Brushy Mountain

Brushy Mountain State Prison was built in 1896 and is still in operation today. It was closed in the late 1970's for a few years, then reopened in the early 1980s. Hundreds of prisoners have been through the system at Brushy (as it is known to the residents of Morgan County).

One of Brushy's most famous residents was James Earl Ray, the confessed assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1978, Ray joined several other inmates in an escape attempt. Using a ladder made from pipes, the inmates went over the north wall. The escape brought a media frenzy to the small town of Petros. Ray was missing for three days before being discovered hiding under the thick brush that blankets the mountains around the prison.

Although there have been several escape attempts, all inmates have been recaptured. Today, Brushy is one of the county's largest employers. It has a maximum security center and serves as an intake/processing center for Tennessee's prison system.

The book Building Time at Brushy was authored by past warden Stonney Ray Lane and contains stories and accounts of a prison employee.

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