Specifications include, but are not limited to: The State operates eleven facilities, with male inmates being housed at nine and female inmates being housed at three, and the Tennessee Correction Academy. Two facilities houses both male and female inmates in separate complexes. All but one of these 11 facilities has full kitchen facilities. These facilities are located in urban and rural settings spread across Tennessee. Facility locations and demographic information are included as RFP Attachments 6.7.a and 6.7.b. and 6.12. The total active beds figure from January 2022 is 13,862. The State also offers meals to staff at the facilities. Approximately 4,000 staff are eligible for one meal a day. Estimates based on historical figures indicate approximately 13,400,000 meals would need to be served to inmates, staff and visitors a year. The Tennessee Correction Academy, located in Tullahoma, is the State’s primary training and staff development center for the State and a specialty training site for selected law enforcement and emergency management type agencies. Training is also provided to the State’s Community Supervision staff (who supervise probationers and parolees) and for staff from the Department of Children’s Services and Juvenile Justice entities. Approximately 6,000 people attend one of the Academy’s numerous preservice, in-service or specialized training schools or certification programs each year. The Academy serves three meals Monday-Thursday, breakfast and lunch on Friday, and a sack meal on Sunday evenings. In 1993, TCA became the second correctional training academy in the nation to be fully accredited by the American Correctional Association. Ten of the eleven State facilities serve three meals a day on weekdays and two meals a day on weekends. Although kitchen locations are provided for DeBerry Special Needs Facility (DSNF), no meals are prepared in them. DSNF uses cold plate re-thermalization and serves three meals every day. Meals are brought in from another facility in the Metro Nashville area, re-heated, and served. The meals served in institutions must meet State and federal nutritional guidelines and meet the dietary needs of its inmate population. These needs include special therapeutic and religious (Muslim, Jewish and other) populations. Therapeutic meals include but are not limited to those required by inmates at a medical facility and facility infirmaries. Sack lunches are provided to inmates who are part of work crews that work outside of the facility, are in transit to other facilities, or are going to court. The State houses inmates of all security levels and serves meals to them in several locations, i.e. central dining rooms, individual cells and units, and remote units outside of the main facility. Ten of the eleven facilities have full kitchen facilities, including coolers and freezers. These kitchens may not be necessarily complete for use as free-standing institutional kitchens. It would be acceptable to the State if food were prepared at a nearby facility, transported to the facility where meals are delivered to inmates, and reheated upon arrival if necessary. Likewise, ten of the eleven facilities have full kitchen facilities, including coolers and freezers and a limited amount of dry goods storage space. There are also satellite kitchens and other unique food service setups. Likewise, all ten of the facilities have warehouse space outside of the main secure perimeter. These warehouse facilities vary in size, and also have freezers, coolers and dry goods shelving space. The State uses inmate labor extensively in its warehouses, kitchen, and other food service facilities. Included as RFP Attachment 6.14 are figures on numbers of staff food service workers by site. The State is also committed to minimizing waste while providing an adequate food supply to meet peak demands and emergency situations when the standard diets cannot be prepared. Each component of the State’s correctional system has been re-accredited by the American Correctional Association (ACA) in a three-year cycle, with TDOC maintaining Golden Eagle status. South Central Correctional Facility is owned by the State, but managed under contract by CoreCivic. Trousdale Turner Correctional Center is owned by Trousdale County and operated by CoreCivic. Hardeman County Correctional Facility and Whiteville Correctional Facility are owned by Hardeman County government and are leased by the State. These four facilities are not included in this RFP’s scope of services.
