Henry Hodges was found guilty of murdering telephone repairman Ronald Bassett in May 1990.
He also was sentenced to 40 years in prison for robbing Bassett.
His attorney Kelley Henry stated on Thursday that he has cut off his own penis in a prison cell after slitting his wrists and asking to be put on suicide watch.
He was visited at the infirmary of the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Thursday where he has been kept naked in 4-point and 6-point restraints for a week.
It was believed that Hodges became upset earlier this month and began smearing feces in his cell after prison officials refused to let him have a special food package he had ordered because he had clear conduct for only the previous five months, rather than the required six months.
A guard then decided to stop feeding him in order to get him to stop smearing feces. On October 7, Hodges slit his wrists with a razor he had in his cell, Henry said.
He was taken to the infirmary where he asked to be put on suicide watch.
The attorney revealed that a “high-ranking correctional officer” told the person treating Hodges that he was manipulating them and could be put on suicide watch back in his cell.
He was taken back to his cell where he completely sever his penis with broken glass from a window he had broken and razors that he had hidden.
Hodges was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where surgeons reattached his penis.
After a couple of weeks in the hospital, he was returned to the prison, where he has not been allowed to walk or leave the bed at all – he is confined to a thin mattress on top of a concrete block and can barely move because of the restraints.
Kelley Henry made it known that Hodges has a diagnosis of bipolar disorder mixed type with psychotic episodes.
He has taken medication in the past after a psychotic episode, but then stopped.
