With apologies to the 1992 classic movie “A River Runs Through It,” today’s Our Town Hero has her own river theme – “Crystal’s Law Enforcement River Runs Through Her.” And does it ever!
Our Hero is Loudon County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) Corrections Supervisor Cpl. Crystal Michelle Underwood. In December 2025, the LCSO honored her by selecting her as the agency’s Corrections Supervisor of the Year.
Cpl. Crystal Underwood
Here is her Law Enforcement River family: Two of her four adult children are in the family business, as well as a daughter-in-law and son-in-law. Let’s meet them:
- Son Blake Ellison is 34 and an LCSO officer currently in the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy in Nashville. His wife, Leigha, works for the Blount County Sheriff’s Office as a transport officer.
- Daughter Sierra Robinson, 30, is a special education teacher at Cleveland Middle School. Her husband, Caleb, is a Tennessee Highway Patrol trooper working out of the Dist. 2 headquarters in Chattanooga.
- Son Josh Ellison is 28 and a corrections officer at the Blount County Sheriff’s Office.
Her other son, Daniel, 32, is a high-functioning young man with Autism who holds down a job and who led little sister Sierra’s decision to become a special education teacher.
There are additional family connections in her river – actually, three family connections. She has wonderful memories of stories shared by two late uncles – Tim Sexton and Bobby Jones – both long-time guards at Brushy Mountain State Prison in Petros. Sexton was part of the team that searched for the prison’s most famous inmate after his escape in June 1977 – James Earl Ray. In April 1968, Ray assassinated the Rev. Martin Luther King in a Memphis hotel. Jones knew Ray, and the prisoner gave Jones a plate he made to heat meals in his cell. “I loved to hear their stories, and they really piqued my interest in corrections.”
The final river connection is her brother, Patrolman Christopher Bradley, who retired a year ago after 25 years at the Knox County Sheriff’s Office (KCSO).
Crystal also has a second “job” – and that would be “loving to death my eight grandchildren,” she says. They are ages 2 to 12 – two girls and six boys. And when you ask Underwood what makes her tick, she’ll tell you: “My kids, my grandkids, and my husband. I live for all of them. I love ’em all so much, and they keep me going.”
Her husband, John, is a home health care nurse with Quality Private Duty.
Here are a few more interesting details about Cpl. Crystal:
- She was reared in Halls and graduated from Halls High School in 1988.
- Her first job was eight years in cosmetology, during which she eventually became an instructor at the Tennessee School of Beauty.
- In November 2010, she was hired by Knox County as a corrections officer and worked at its jail for six years.
- In November 2016, she began working at LCSO in the jail and is starting her 10th year there.
- She owns a pair of Harley Davidson motorcycles she loves – a black GX 500 and a red 2025 Sportster.
- For three years, she was the lead vocalist for a Knoxville music group – Envision – that eventually changed its name to Xtreme Caution.
- Her go-to creative hobby is Diamond Art Painting.
Crystal Underwood on her 2025 Harley Sportster
As a corrections supervisor, she oversees and directs a team of nine guards, three women and six men, working 12-hour shifts with a jail housing approximately 150 inmates. “I feel like I’ve made a difference in some lives, and I’m always disappointed to see the faces of the repeat offenders, and some of them even cry about being back in jail,” she says. “I’m a counselor at times, a motivator for my team, and I deal with inmate problems and any requests they have.”
After years of working in two jails, she shares what it’s like inside.
“I love the fact that it is never the same. It’s always an adventure, every day, and it keeps you on your toes. Some days are worse than others. We have fights between inmates, and sometimes they will assault a jail officer, and that adds charges for the inmate,” she says.
Recently, a female inmate, she says, had always been polite and nice, changed. “I had to go into her cell, and she charged me, and I had to drop her. I can hold my own with them. Things happen so fast at times that you don’t have time to be scared. We have to be prepared every second. You can never let your guard down. It took three of us to carry her out of her cell.”
She earned a certification in the art of de-escalation and is certified to instruct others in de-escalation for a variety of situations. “We have far more de-escalations than hands-on fights, and we control a majority of the situations with words,” she added.
Two very difficult incidents did shake her. “We found two women hanging in their cells. That will give you PTSD. When I walk past the cells now, I feel anxious and scared about what I might see. It’s one of the hardest things in this line of work.” One woman survived, and the second died a week later from the injuries she sustained, Underwood said.
In 2023, Underwood and officers Elin Carroll and Patrick Purdy were recognized for saving the life of a female inmate who had a heart attack.
Underwood explains: “We all did CPR on her until the paramedics arrived, and Elin continued doing CPR straddling her on the gurney all the way to the ambulance, and I was holding her oxygen mask.” All three received LCSO Life Saving Awards. The inmate survived.
The Supervisor of the Year award caught her off guard. She was shocked. “I had no idea it was coming. It’s such a big honor for me,” she said.
Lt. Kyle Goins, second in command in the Corrections Division, explained why she received the honor. “Cpl. Underwood, over the course of the year, showed tremendous fortitude. Any challenge her team faced, they faced it head on, with the help of their supervisor. She showed the ability to coach while still holding individuals accountable, including herself. She has shown a drive throughout her career that many do not possess.”
Crystal River flows on …
Tom King has been the editor of newspapers in Texas and California, and also worked in Tennessee and Georgia. If you have someone you think we should consider featuring, please email Tom at the link with his name or text him at 865-659-3562.
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