A Morgan County Grand Jury has issued a scathing report detailing systemic security failures, ignored threats, and an atmosphere of intimidation at the Morgan County Correctional Complex (MCCX) that contributed to the fatal stabbing of Corrections Officer Dustin Pedigo on February 24, 2026.

Inmate Reginald Steed, who was housed in the facility’s Security Management Unit (SMU), attacked Pedigo during a routine cell-door lock check in Unit 21. Surveillance video shows Steed forcing open the door and repeatedly stabbing the officer in the head and neck with an improvised weapon, striking him seven or eight times. Pedigo suffered a fatal wound to his left carotid artery. Staff responded quickly and attempted to stop the bleeding, but Life Star helicopter transport was aborted due to turbulence, and Pedigo was transported by ambulance. He later died from his injuries.

Steed was indicted on first-degree murder and related charges. The state filed a death-penalty notice. Steed himself died on September 22, 2026, at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution; an autopsy has not yet determined the cause of death.

The grand jury emphasized that Steed’s intentional attack was the immediate cause of Pedigo’s death. However, its investigation—based on a parallel probe by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation requested by District Attorney General Russell Johnson—found that longstanding institutional problems created the conditions for the killing.

Key findings include:

– Defective cell-door locks: Tennessee Department of Correction officials have known since 2013 that narrow-gauge locks at facilities including MCCX can be jammed by inmates, allowing doors to be forced open. MCCX was placed last on the statewide replacement schedule because it was considered the newest facility. Work is not scheduled to begin until October 2028 and would not finish until October 2029—more than 16 years after the problem was identified. Officers were required to perform repeated physical lock checks, placing them directly next to the vulnerability. Secondary locking devices were stored on site but not installed until after Pedigo’s death.

– Ignored threats: Steed had made repeated, specific threats to kill staff, including letters to TDOC Commissioner Frank Strada and others, statements that he would kill someone if advanced in the SMU program, monitored phone calls, and warnings from his mother about his mental health and intentions. A U.S. Marshal also reportedly warned supervisors. Despite this, Steed was advanced from Phase One to Phase Two of the SMU the same day he killed Pedigo. The move reduced the number of officers required for door checks from two (with a Taser) to one, leaving Pedigo alone.

– Ineffective SMU program: The grand jury found little evidence that the Security Management Unit provided meaningful education, rehabilitation, therapy, or behavioral change. Oversight was weak, and documentation of progress appeared inadequate. MCCX is currently the only TDOC facility operating the program, concentrating higher-risk inmates there.

– Culture of intimidation: Employees reported retaliation for raising safety concerns or cooperating with investigators, including lowered performance evaluations, reassignments, and alleged statements by then-Warden Shawn Phillips linking terminations to colleagues’ contacts with the TBI. Witnesses became more willing to testify after leadership changes: Strada resigned, Phillips retired, and Associate Warden Stacy Oakes was transferred, all effective around October 31, 2026.

The report also referenced a prior major security breach at MCCX in 2018 involving inmate Robert Fusco, who repeatedly left the facility through an unsecured manhole. Phillips had been transferred after that incident but was later returned as warden under Strada.

The grand jury did not return criminal charges against administrators in this public report and stressed that administrative failures do not automatically equal criminal liability. It recommended accelerating lock replacements based on risk rather than facility age, requiring documented threat assessments before reducing restrictions on threatening inmates, auditing the SMU program, improving trauma response capabilities, protecting whistleblowers, and establishing clearer accountability for facility leadership.

“Correctional Officer Dustin Pedigo was killed while performing an assigned security duty,” the report concludes. “The Grand Jury recognizes the dangers inherent in correctional work but believes those dangers make prompt correction of known deficiencies and meaningful evaluation of credible threats especially important.”

Copies of the report were sent to Gov. Bill Lee, relevant state legislators, the interim TDOC commissioner, and the new MCCX warden. The grand jury extended its deepest sympathy to Pedigo’s family and fellow officers.