Photo: Students in Scott High School educator Lacey Massengale's dual enrollment class offered by Roane State are pictured at the former Brushy Mountain Penitentiary with their tour guide, a former inmate named George.
November 2, 2021
By Bob Fowler
Roane State staff writer
Roane State dual enrollment students at Scott High School recently toured the notorious former prison that housed James Earl Ray, the killer of Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
It was a real eye-opener for those 23 students in dual enrollment, where they receive college credits while still in high school, said teacher Lacey Massengale, a part-time adjunct professor at Roane State and Scott High educator.
“I always wanted to take the students in my criminal justice course to Brushy Mountain Penitentiary,” Massengale added. She said the tour, arranged by Roane State, may become a staple of her class, titled Introduction to Corrections.
Surrounded by dense forests on steep mountainsides in the Petros community of Morgan County, Brushy Mountain Penitentiary closed its doors several years ago and has been converted into a tourist attraction.
The dual enrollment students, who are high-achieving juniors and seniors at Scott High, “were very interested in how inmates were treated,” Massengale said. Their tour guide was a former inmate at the lockup.
“Our guide said he always had to watch his back,” and told the students how inmates were sometimes attacked, even while eating lunch, by other inmates, Massengale said. “He made the students realize that being locked up may not be the worst thing when they’re in prison.”
Students in her class have learned about prison classification systems and security systems. They also drove by the nearby Morgan County Correctional Complex – which replaced Brushy Mountain Penitentiary – and have toured the former Scott County Jail.
Students in her class have an assortment of career goals, including prison guards, attorneys, and criminal justice teachers. “They’re all interested in the justice system,” Massengale said.
For more information on the legal and criminal justice programs offered at Roane State, visit roanestate.edu/law.
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