WARDEN 4 - 81166

Executive Service

WARDEN 4

Department of Correction

Morgan County Correctional Complex

Wartburg, TN

Annual Salary $103,440.00 - $165,048.00

Closing Date: 09/30/2026

Background Check:

This position requires a criminal background check. Therefore, you may be required to provide information about your criminal history in order to be considered for this position.

Who we are and what we do:

The Tennessee Department of Correction operates and oversees 14 adult prisons across the state, housing some 21,000 offenders. In the community, TDOC supervises 79,000 offenders on probation, parole, or community corrections. The department operates 44 probation/parole offices in 13 districts across the state.

The Prison Operations Division is responsible for the daily operation and oversight of fourteen correctional facilities (ten state operated, and four contract operated). This division oversees Classification, Statewide Transportation, Special Operations, K-9-unit operations, and Emergency Services.

The Morgan County Correctional Complex (MCCX), located in Wartburg, is a maximum-security facility with an operating capacity of 2,128 inmates. MCCX houses male inmates with custody levels ranging from minimum to maximum and is one of Morgan County's largest employers with approximately 800 staff.

The facility offers a multitude of evidence-based programs to meet the rehabilitative needs of inmates. Inmates have access to numerous academic programs including Adult Basic Education (ABE), High School Equivalency (HiSET) exam prep courses, and literacy classes. The facility offers vocational programs including Career Exploration, Welding, Career Management for Success, Core HVAC and Refrigeration, Core Masonry I & II, and Core Construction. To address the behavioral health needs of inmates, MCCX offers evidence-based psychotherapy, a mental health supportive living unit, cognitive behavior intervention program, special management group therapy, substance use group therapy, substance use therapeutic community, substance use aftercare, and workforce development.

How you make a difference in this role:

The Warden of the Morgan County Correctional Facility will be required to have extensive knowledge of correctional operations, security procedures, inmate management, classification processes, and rehabilitative programming. To be successful in this role, the Warden must demonstrate a strong understanding of state and federal laws, regulations, and statutes related to a correctional setting. The Warden is expected to make sound decisions based on available information, balancing safety and security while fostering a safe and secure environment for inmates and staff.

The Warden will oversee daily operations of the facility, including the supervision, management, and professional development of staff. This includes responsibility for training, allocation of resources, and performance management processes. The Warden implements and monitors policies and practices designed to maintain a safe, secure, and orderly facility, while also developing and overseeing inmate release programming and rehabilitative services.

The Warden manages the inmate population by ensuring consistent engagement between staff and inmates, addressing needs of the population, and responding to complaints and grievances in a timely manner. The Warden leads by example, by making routine rounds in restrictive housing areas and requiring staff to do the same to resolve concerns reasonably and effectively.

Job Overview:

In this role, the Warden is required to conduct regular rounds and inspections throughout the facility to ensure adherence to safety and security standards, to identify structural or physical plant deficiencies, to recommend improvements, and to oversee preventive maintenance efforts.

The Warden represents the agency and facility in both internal and external meetings with stakeholders, community leaders, partner organizations, and others as appropriate. This includes establishing relationships, engaging with partners, and collaborating with law enforcement agencies to promote public safety.

In collaboration with fiscal leadership, the Warden prepares the facility's budget, monitors expenditures, makes responsible, prudent fiscal decisions, and conducts regular meetings to ensure effective financial and operational management.

Key Responsibilities:

• Ensure facility-wide adherence to all policies and procedures all the while operating in a safe and secure manner, to include security operations, inmate movement and control, accountability, tool, key and armory control.
• Ensure uninterrupted, around-the-clock accountability of all inmates within the facilities assigned custody/count.
• Oversee the protocols for emergency operations to ensure unhindered responses using the Organizational Structure of the Incident Command System, in areas such as escapes, natural disasters, security operations, disturbances, etc.
• Ensure compliance with all applicable laws, rules, and accreditation standards and to ensure appropriate corrective action is taken where discrepancies are noted.
• Oversee and ensure the programmatic needs addressed in each inmate's risk/needs assessment are being addressed.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree, with substantial and increasingly responsible management and administrative experience in adult correctional work, law enforcement, probation/parole, rehabilitative services, correctional intelligence, correctional compliance, or other related areas. Equivalent combinations of education and experience may be considered.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree plus five years correctional, law enforcement or a related field to include three years managerial experience or ten years of experience in corrections, law enforcement, or a related field including five years managerial experience.

Pursuant to the State of Tennessee's Workplace Discrimination and Harassment policy, the State is firmly committed to the principle of fair and equal employment opportunities for its citizens and strives to protect the rights and opportunities of all people to seek, obtain, and hold employment without being subjected to illegal discrimination and harassment in the workplace. It is the State's policy to provide an environment free of discrimination and harassment of an individual because of that person's race, color, national origin, age (40 and over), sex, pregnancy, religion, creed, disability, veteran's status or any other category protected by state and/or federal civil rights laws.