Former Morgan County Inmate Sentenced for Sexual Battery of Corrections Officer

Russell Johnson - 9th Judicial District, District Attorney General

Press Release:

INMATE SENTENCED FOR SEXUAL BATTERY OF FEMALE MCCX CORRECTIONS OFFICER

Wartburg, TN-  Montarius Douglas, (age 24), a former MCCX inmate was found guilty of sexual battery following a jury trial held in February 2026. He was sentenced in the Criminal Court for Morgan County on October 9, 2026.

Douglas was found guilty of committing sexual battery when he grabbed and groped a female corrections officer (CO) in buttocks outside of his cell at the Morgan County Correctional Complex, on October 19, 2024. The CO was performing routine duties in a common area at the time. Inmate Douglas was serving a 15-year sentence for voluntary manslaughter out of Gibson County, TN.

When the CO went to unlock and open a door for Douglas, he came up behind her and grabbed her buttocks without consent. Security camera footage in the prison captured the incident. Douglas admitted on the witness stand that he did in fact grab CO’s buttocks without her consent. At both the jury trial where he was convicted and at his sentencing hearing (Friday) Inmate Douglas talked about letting “his fleshly desires control his actions”.  The CO testified about the lasting impact the assault has on her in her ability to perform her job at MCCX that she returned to and performs daily.  She emphasized to the Court at the sentencing hearing that she wanted to follow through with prosecution to stand up for the other CO’s at MCCX and within the Tennessee Department of Corrections statewide, to try and hold inmates accountable through the criminal justice system and not the currently far less punitive TDOC administrative disciplinary system.

Criminal Court Judge Jeff Wicks presided over both the trial and (Friday’s) sentencing hearing. Assistant District Attorney Anna Howard, who tried the case before the jury along with Jonathan Edwards, argued for a two-year sentence to be served consecutively to the sentence Douglas is currently serving.

Douglas is currently facing three counts of Contraband in a Penal Institution after three prison-made knives were found in a cell occupied by Douglas alone in December 2025.

Judge Wicks agreed with the State and sentenced Douglas to serve a two-year sentence at 100% consecutive to the sentence Douglas is currently serving for voluntary manslaughter, meaning he will have to serve an additional two years. He will also be required to register as a sex offender upon release from incarceration.