Tennessee DOC Found in Violation of ADA With Failure to Accommodate Hearing Impaired Prisoners by As previously reported in PLN, hearing-impaired prisoner Ernest Trivette filed suit against the Tennessee Department of Corrections (DOC) in March 2020, accusing the prison system of failing to accommodate his disability. [See: PLN, Jan. 2024, …
Tennessee Finalizes New One-Drug Execution Protocol by No executions have been carried out by the Tennessee Department of Corrections (DOC) since May 2019, while the state reviewed its three-drug lethal injection protocol. That review was completed on December 27, 2024, when DOC announced a new protocol with just a single …
News in Brief by Australia: Brisbane Correctional Center prisoner Jack James Peterson, 29, was sentenced to an additional 18 months in January 2023 for assaulting a guard with a squash racket, the Courier reported. Peterson struck the unnamed 34-year-old during a confrontation involving a riot response team, leaving him with …
Trivette v. Tennessee Dept of Corrections, TN, Settlement, Discrimination-ADA Violation, 2025 SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AND RELEASE This SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT AND RELEASE (“Settlement Agreement” or “Agreement”) sets forth the terms of the settlement by and between Alex Gordon Stinnett, Thomas White, Lakeevious Owens, (collectively the “Individual Plaintiffs”), and Disability Rights Tennessee (“DRT”) …
News in Brief by Alabama: Wiregrass Daily News reported that Mobile Metro Jail guard Timothy Lee Scarbrough, 39, was arrested on September 9, 2024, and charged with first-degree sodomy for the alleged sexual assaulting of a detainee who was still under the effects of anesthesia after eye surgery. Scarbrough had …
Tennessee Attorney Sues Federal Court Over Gag Order in CoreCivic Suit by In a suit filed on September 30, 2024, attorney Daniel Horwitz accused four judges in the federal court for the Middle District of Tennessee of violating his First Amendment rights with a gag order that was issued in …
News in Brief by Alabama: Former state Department of Corrections (DOC) guard Henry Guice, Jr., 46, was sentenced to 75 months in federal prison on September 9, 2024, for his role in a drug smuggling conspiracy at Staton Correctional Facility. The Birmingham News reported that a fellow guard was inspecting …
Two Hurricanes in Two Weeks Threaten Prisoners and Jail Detainees in Six States by Hurricane Helene left a trail of disaster across six states after making landfall in Florida on September 26, 2024. Less than two weeks later, Hurricane Milton reached Florida’s Gulf Coast on October 9, 2024, causing more …
Two Wrongful Tennessee Convictions Result in Payouts Over $1 Million by An undisclosed settlement with Grundy County on May 22, 2024, added to a $1 million payout that former Tennessee prisoner Adam Braseel had already received for 12 years he spent wrongfully imprisoned. That earlier award from the state Department …
CoreCivic’s Successful Campaign for Mass Incarceration Continues in Tennessee by When he was picked to chair the Tennessee Republican Party’s annual Statemen’s Dinner on June 15, 2024—billed as “the largest political event of the year” in the Republican-­dominated state—Damon Hininger, CEO of private prison operator CoreCivic, brought his firm into …
News in Brief by Alabama: On June 24, 2024, Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith told the Birmingham News that county jail guard Tony Dewayne Jackson, 29, had been arrested for smuggling “non-­drug” contraband into the lockup. Jackson was no longer working at the jail, but Smith didn’t say how or …
Tennessee DOC Rewards CoreCivic with Pay Increase Despite Critical Watchdog Audit by When Tennessee lawmakers adopted a new $52.8 billion state budget on April 18, 2024, it hiked outlays for the state Department of Corrections (DOC) to $233 million, a $9.8 million increase that mostly went to private prison giant …
Tennessee Sheriff Indicted for Massive Prisoner Work-Release Fraud by On June 12, 2024, the Sheriff of Tennessee’s Gibson County was arrested and booked on a $25,000 bond into Nashville’s Davidson County Detention Center on a pair of indictments with a total of 22 counts related to his alleged scheme to …
Tennessee DOC Faulted for High Staff Vacancy and Turnover, Inadequate Programs, PREA Violations by The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury’s Division of State Audit released a performance audit of the state Department of Correction (DOC) on December 12, 2023. Covering a four-year period ending the previous July 31, 2023, the …
Memphis Jail Accused of Routine Over-Detention in Suit Over Detainee’s Murder by A lawsuit filed on November 18, 2023, accused the Shelby County Jail in Memphis of routinely and deliberately denying release to eligible detainees. That’s how Marcus Donald’s family alleged the 38-year-old was still in the jail despite a …
Florez-Ramirez v. Jones, TN, Complaint, Excessive Force, 2024 Case 2:24-cv-02335 Document 1 Filed 05/20/24 Page 1 of 27 PageID 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE WESTERN DIVISION AT MEMPHIS DAMIAN FLOREZ-RAMIREZ, Plaintiff, v. Case No. JACQUES JONES (s-4624); TRACY WILLIAMS (s-9596); CARLUS CLEAVES …
Class-Action Challenge to Medical Care at Tennessee Jail Results in $3.8 Million Settlement by For years, prisoners at the Bradley County jail in Tennessee received poor medical care or none at all. Former prisoner Darrell Eden, who was denied treatment for pre-arrest injuries sustained during a car accident, including seven …
Hurdles to Voting for Ex-Felons Rise in Tennessee and Virginia, Fall in Mississippi by On July 21, 2023, Tennessee announced a tough new rule for ex-felons seeking to exercise their voting rights. State Coordinator of Elections Mark Goins said that anyone with a felony conviction in another state whose voting …
Hear Us Now? Hearing Impaired Tennessee Prisoners Secure Injunction by Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. ch.126 § 12101 et seq., and the Rehabilitation Act, 29 U.S.C. § 701 et seq., prisoners who are deaf or hard of hearing are entitled to reasonable accommodations so they can communicate and …
News in Brief by Alabama: Within 48-hours of booking into the Morgan County Jail on August 29, 2023, Miles Rea Batson, 39, had two second-degree assault charges added to his public intoxication charge as well as another for disarming a law enforcement agent. WHNT in Huntsville reported that during booking …
