Riverbend Maximum Security Institution

Riverbend Maximum Security Institution (RMSI) opened in 1989 and replaced its 100-year-old neighbor, the Tennessee State Penitentiary. Even today, it's billed as one of the state's most high-tech prisons. 

RMSI, which is made up of 20 different buildings with approximately 320,000 square feet of operating space, sits on 132 acres located off Cockrill Bend Boulevard. Riverbend's designated capacity is 748 offenders. Of that number, 480 are classified as high risk. This prison houses offenders from minimum to maximum security level.

Riverbend houses all of the state's male death row offenders. The overall mission of the prison is to house and manage high-risk male offenders to ensure the safety of the public, departmental employees, and offenders while providing rehabilitative programs.

Tennessee Death Row Facts

There are currently 50 people on death row in the state of Tennessee. The gender and race numbers breakdown as follows:

49 Males and 1 Female

22 White, 26 African Americans, 1 Hispanic, 1 Asian

Where are they from?

• 34 offenders are from the largest metropolitan counties: Shelby (24), Davidson (5), Knox (4), and Hamilton (1)
• 10 offenders were convicted in East Tennessee
• 9 offenders were convicted in Middle Tennessee
• 31 offenders were convicted in West Tennessee

Oldest inmate on Death Row:

• Oscar Smith, 3/25/50, 70 years old
• Convicted in Shelby County
• On Death Row since July 1990

Youngest Male on Death Row (also last person sentenced to death row):

• Urshawn Miller, 1/06/89, 31 years old
• Convicted in Madison County
• On Death Row since March 2018

Longest Time on Death Row:

• Larry McKay, 2/26/56, 64 years old and Michael Sample, 5/23/56, 63 years old
• Convicted in Shelby County
• On Death Row since February 1983

Visiting hours at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution are as follows:

General Population Units 5&6
Saturday and Sunday 8:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Monday Evening (Those that did not visit Saturday or Sunday) 5:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
State Legal Holidays (Determined by the Associate Warden of Security) 

Administrative Segregation/Protective Custody/Safekeepers/ Close Custody Units 1, 3, & 4 Saturday (Week 1) A pod* 8:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. B pod* 12:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
Sunday (Week 1) C pod* 8:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. D pod* 12:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
Monday Evening (Those that did not visit Saturday or Sunday) 5:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
Saturday (Week 2) D pod* 8:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. C pod* 12:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
Sunday (Week 2) B pod* 8:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. A pod* 12:00 p.m.-3:30 p.m.
Monday Evening (Those that did not visit Saturday or Sunday) 5:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
State Legal Holidays (Determined by the Associate Warden of Security) 

*Pods alternate every other week Death Row Unit 2
Saturday (A pod and Lower Walk B pod)* 8:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Sunday (D pod and Upper Walk B pod)* 8:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Monday Evening (Those that did not visit Saturday or Sunday) 5:30 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
State Legal Holidays (Determined by the Associate Warden of Security) 

*Pods alternate every other week Due to lack of space in visitation galleries it may be necessary to limit the duration of visits.

Visiting Applications

Click here for the Visitation Handbook. This 15-page document will tell you everything you need to know about visiting your inmate at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, including dress codes and search procedures. If you have any questions, please call the contact line below.

Contact #: (615) 350-3100, ext. 3128

Most TDOC offenders are allowed to visit with friends and family if they fill out the appropriate paperwork and follow the departmental policies and procedures.

• Policy 507.01 - Visitation (in pdf format) 
• Visitation Form (in pdf format) 
  • Guide To Submit A Visitation Form For An Adult
  • Guide To Submit A Visitation Form For A Minor

• List of Items Permitted Through Checkpoint

Prospective visitors shall complete and return a visitation application with a current photograph to the institution via mail to: 

Associate Warden of Security
Riverbend Maximum Security Institution
7475 Cockrill Bend Boulevard
Nashville, Tennessee 37243-0471 

Applications shall be approved or denied within thirty (30) days of receipt. Visitation staff will notify the offender of the decision. It is the inmate’s responsibility to notify their prospective visitor of the decision regarding their visitation application.

Dress Code

Visitors are encouraged to dress casually and in comfortable attire that is not provocative or offensive to others.

1. Clothing shall fit in an appropriate manner. Clothing that appears to be too large or too small for the wearer creates obvious gaps, exposure or would present a hazard to the wearer shall be rejected. 

2. Visitors must wear undergarments. For female visitors, undergarments include bras and panties. No articles of clothing can contain any metal/underwire; these items will not pass the metal detector. A slip is required under dresses or skirts, unless the garment is made of a dense, non-transparent fabric, (samples of inappropriate undergarments are thongs, an underwire bra and water bras to name a few). 

3. Appropriate footwear that provides basic foot protection shall be required. Open toe shoes or sandals are permitted; however, all shoes must have some sort of backing on them. Steel-toed shoes, shower shoes and flip flops are not to be worn. 

4. Shorts or skirts are permitted provided the leg is covered within three (3) inches above the knee in a standing position, with the garment worn in the position in which it is intended to be worn. 

5. Dresses or skirts – with slit – the slit must not exceed three (3) inches above the knee. No dress, skirt, shorts, etc. should have any slits in the front enclosure or seam of the garment. 

The following types of clothing are specifically prohibited. Jackets or other “coverings” will not be permitted in order to cover any of the listed items below or any other infractions. 

1. Spandex or spandex type garments. 

2. Any clothing that is transparent or translucent in nature. 

3. Sleeveless shirts or strapless dresses, or any clothing that exposes a bare chest, upper arms or midriff. 

4. Backless/wraparound dresses, skirts, blouses, Jackets or other “covering” will not be permitted in order to cover these above areas. 

5. Any camouflage type attire (even just a small amount, or as an accent color). 

6. Clothing with logos that contain pictures, slogans, vulgarity, tobacco/alcohol references or those that contain signs or symbols of any security threat groups (STG), or any clothing determined by the processing officer to be associated with any STG. The association may be made by color combinations, designs or logos affixed to the clothing, or even the manner in which it is worn. 

7. Cut off pants/shorts of any kind. No fraying is allowed. 

8. Any garment which has rips in them, manufactured that way or personalized, for example; holes in the knees or buttocks of pants, t-shirt with the neckline cut out. 

9. Bandannas of any kind.

Prosthesis, artificial limbs (plastic or other substances), cardiac pacemakers, and defibrillators shall be allowed, but a doctor’s note may be required in order to show proof of the medical issue. 

During the winter months, visitors will be allowed to dress according to the weather; however, an excessive amount of clothing will not be tolerated. For example – a person would be allowed to wear an undershirt, a long-sleeved shirt and then a sweater – but more than one sweatshirt or more than one pair of pants is unacceptable.

JPay provides several ways to send money to an inmate at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution. 

Online

To send money online with a credit or debit card, click here. It's the quickest and easiest way to send money.

Phone

You can send money by phone using your credit or debit card. Call (800) 574-5729 to speak with a live agent 24/7.

Walk-In Cash

To send money using cash, visit any MoneyGram agent location and use receive code 6188. Click here to get a list of nearby MoneyGram locations.

Money Orders

All money orders must be sent with a deposit slip to:

JPay
P.O. Box 279010
Miramar, FL 33027