Tag Archives: low

Report Says Looper Assaulted Pregnant Guard Before Death

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About two hours before Byron “Low Tax” Looper was found dead in a prison cell Wednesday morning, he reportedly assaulted a pregnant female counselor, according to the Chattanooga TFP.
An incident report from the Morgan County Correctional Complex reveals what happened in the hours before the death of Looper, who was serving a life sentence in East Tennessee for assassinating his political opponent, Sen. Tommy Burks, in 1998.
The incident report accuses Looper of hitting the counselor, who was 34 weeks pregnant, in the head about 8:55 a.m. Wednesday. Guards responded to the assault and restrained Looper, the report states, “with the least amount of force necessary.”
….The report states that earlier that morning Looper was standing nearby when his counselor and a prison unit manager were talking about a request he had made. That’s when, authorities say, he held his hands out and hit the counselor on both sides of her head, knocking off her glasses.
The report doesn’t specify the request Looper made, but two sources said Looper recently had been told he was going to be placed back in the prison’s general population, and he didn’t want that because he was afraid of being hurt.
Looper, who legally changed his middle name to “Low Tax,” ran against Burks, a popular Democrat, in 1998.
Burks, who had held office in Tennessee for 28 years, was found slumped over in his truck on his farm in Monterey on Oct. 19, 1998, shot near his left eye. Looper was charged in the crime and convicted of first-degree murder.

Bryon (Low Tax) Looper Found Dead in Prison Cell

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Byron (Low Tax) Looper, convicted of the first-degree murder of state Sen. Tommy Burks, died this morning in Morgan County Correctional Complex, reports the News Sentinel.
Looper, 48, was found unresponsive inside his cell in Wartburg, according to a news release from the communications director for the Tennessee Department of Correction.
He was pronounced dead at 11:10 a.m. He was serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for Burks’ murder.
TDOC Commissioner Derrick Schofield asked the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to assume the lead into the investigation of Looper’s death, according to the news release. District Attorney General Russell Johnson has approved the request.
Johnson said Wednesday afternoon details are sketchy and unconfirmed, but he was told guards performed what he was told was a “full level cell extraction” and Looper had to be contained.
The DA said he was told Looper was treated at the prison’s medical unit and was then put in an isolation cell. Looper was found dead about an hour later, Johnson said he was told.
Johnson said he notified state Sen. Charlotte Burks, D-Monterey, of the death of her husband’s murderer.
Looper was convicted of first-degree murder in the assassination on Oct. 19, 1998, of Burks, a 28-year veteran of the state Legislature. Looper, running as a Republican, was Democrat Burks’ political opponent in that year’s election.
Looper officially changed his middle name from Anthony to (Low Tax) in 1996, and was elected as Putnam County Tax Assessor that year.

DCS, Parole Problems Tied to Low Pay for Stressful State Jobs

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Problems in the Department of Children’s Services and the state parole system have something in common, according to Gail Kerr: Low pay for state employees in key jobs.
Gov. Bill Haslam and the state legislature have to make a choice: Do they keep Tennesseans safe or allow children to die and be sexually assaulted because of stubborn determination to keep government from growing?
…Two key state departments that are charged with keeping children safe share the same problem: They aren’t getting the job done. They have too few employees in stressful jobs making salaries so small that turnover is the norm. Both departments have come under fire in recent weeks for several missteps that endanger the lives of children and adults.
The Department of Children’s Services has struggled to even say how many cases each social worker is handling. Its child-abuse hotline call center is so understaffed that 25 percent of the people who call to report something hang up because they stay on hold too long. The trained social workers who answer those calls hear the worst of the worst, yet the pay is so low that 10 of 65 workers left or transferred over the past year.
A look at the state’s job application website shows there are 41 positions open for DCS case managers right now. Their pay? Between $27,468 and $31,128 a year.
Over in the state Department of Correction, the parole and probation division is in a similar mess.
A recent report shows that, too often, convicted sex offenders are not checked for violations of their supervising rules, including where they are living. Officers failed to visit offenders in their homes in 40 percent of cases and routinely ignored GPS monitor alerts that an offender was where he’s not supposed to be.
In at least one case, an offender was caught living in a home with the child he was convicted of abusing. Every parole officer is supposed to supervise no more than 25 sex offender cases. The average, however, is 40.
The state lists 36 open jobs for probation and parole field supervisors. Their pay range is $26,364 to $29,886.