In 2009, Brushy Mountain Prison officials
began quietly moving the 545 inmates to
the Morgan County Correctional Complex,
a maximum security facility about 10 miles
away. Moving the general prisoners on a bus
and maximum security prisoners in groups
of eight. The final group of inmates left on
June 4, 2009. It was raining that day as several
hundred attended the closing ceremony for
former and current prison workers. The prison
whistle blew for the final time after 113 years
of operation, Brushy Mountain closed.
Often referred to as Tennessee’s own version
of Alcatraz, Brushy Mountain is surrounded
by the impassable terrain of the Walden
Ridge Mountains and today offers a glimpse
of a time passed. An historical relic that
once housed the infamous James Earl Ray,
convicted of killing Martin Luther King, Jr.,
it is also mentioned in movie, The Silence of
the Lambs and written on the pages of the
novel, The Firm. Brushy Mountain was known
as the “End of the Line,” housing evil men
who committed heartless crimes with little
remorse. Once an inmate arrived, there was
little chance they’d leave. Throughout the
113 storied years of operation and beyond,
Brushy Mountain Prison has become its own
character, having a story beyond the inmates.
Many an evil man served time at Brushy. James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King’s assassin,
was one of ‘em. On June 10th, 1977, he and six other prisoners escaped over the back
wall. One was shot and killed and everyone, including Ray were captured and
returned to their cells within 3 days.
In the 1950’s and 60’s, residents of Petros could bring their garments to be laundered free of charge. The
Laundry room was an easy place to conceal contraband, most notably, a once-discovered 25 automatic
pistol. The infamous felon James Earl Ray worked in the laundry and reportedly grew a watermelon
patch that he tended out back.
44 FARRAGUT LIFE SUMMER 2019