Low Pay Drives Tennessee Guards to Smuggle Drugs, Contraband into Prisons by Tennessee lawmakers are complaining that their prison guards are helping to drugs and other contraband into the state's prisons. They specifically are bemoaning that those guards are being allowed to quit or resign without facing criminal prosecution when …
Incompetence, Brutality and Scandal Infest Tennessee Prisons and Jails by by Michael Rigby Tennessee isn't known for its huge prison system, like Texas or California. Nor is the state's capital city, Nashville, recognized for massively overcrowded jails such as the ones in Los Angeles or New York City. But one …
Los Angeles County Jail Tests Prisoner Radio ID Tags by by John E. Dannenberg The Los Angeles (L.A.) County Sheriff's Department will spend $1.5 million to install a computerized radio ID tag system in 2006 to monitor the location of 1,900 prisoners at the Pitchess Detention Center (county jail) in …
Lethal Injection Painful, Study Suggests; U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Issue by by Michael Rigby Hundreds of prisoners killed by lethal injectionthe preferred method of execution in 37 states and the federal Bureau of Prisonsmay have suffered agonizing deaths due to a routine failure to administer enough anesthesia, according to …
Mass Parole Re-Hearings in Tennessee Following AG Opinion by Alex Friedmann With some level of irony, on June 7, 2005 the Tennessee Attorney General's office sent a letter to the state's Board of Probation and Parole, recommending that the Board limit the amount of time between parole hearings and suggesting …
Tennessee Pretrial Jail Credit Mandatory, Not Waivable by The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals reversed a defendant's convictions, holding that the trial court should not have accepted [his] plea agreement waiving pretrial Jail credit and that the trial court erred in denying the defendant's motion to withdraw his guilty pleas. …
Antibiotic Resistant Staph Infections Continue to Plague Prisons, Jails by Michael Rigby Antibiotic Resistant Staph Infections Continue to Plague Prisons, Jails by Michael Rigby Chelsea Johnson, 30, said it began as a small pimple that formed on her right cheek shortly after she arrived at the Orange County Jail in …
$800,000 Awarded to Wrongly Convicted Tennessee Man by After maintaining his innocence for 22 years, Clark McMillan was released from prison after DNA evidence cleared him of raping a 16 year-old in 1980. McMillan was released from a Tennessee prison in 2002 after DNA testing revealed a former Memphis resident …
Tennessee Public Records Act Requires Delivery Of Records To Prisoners by The Tennessee Court of Appeals has held that the state's Public Records Act requires a District Attorney General not only to make public records available, but to copy and deliver records requested by prisoners. Jaxie Raymond Jones, a Tennessee …
Four Guards Suspended By CCA Following Their Murder of Prisoner in Tennessee Jail by Four Guards Suspended By CCA Following Their Murder of Prisoner in Tennessee Jail by Matthew T. Clarke Four male CCA Guards have been placed on paid administrative leave following their murder of a female prisoner at …
Prisoner's Release Fails to Excuse PLRA's Exhaustion Requirement by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held the Prison Litigation Reform Act's (PLRA) administrative remedy exhaustion requirement was not excused by the fact the plaintiff had been released at the time the district court considered the motion to dismiss. While a …
Prisons, Profits and Prophets by Bill Berkowitz The nation's largest private prison corporation is joining forces with conservative faith-based ministries by Bill Berkowitz In an era where the Bush Administration touts faith-based organizations as engines of individual and social transformation, and is actively recruiting and funding religious organizations to deliver …
U.S. Supreme Court: ADA Title II Implicates Due Process Right of Physical Access To The Courts by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenberg The U.S. Supreme Court held that Title II of the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 12132, which guarantees disabled individuals access …
Tennessee: Staph Outbreak, Delayed Treatment, Death Highlight Prison Healthcare Problems by Michael Rigby An outbreak of staph infection, the delayed treatment of a brain tumor, and a preventable heart attack are just a few of the problems Tennessee prisoners have faced while in the care of private contractors. In September …
CCA Medical Contract Doesn't Violate 8th Amendment by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated an injunction holding a contract between Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) and a private doctor; Dr. Robert B. Coble, was unconstitutional. The contract at issue required Dr. Coble to, among other things, "determine the …
Tennessee Prison Audit Blasts DOC, CCA and CMS by Michael Rigby A Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) performance audit for the years 1997-2002, released by the state comptroller's office in September 2003, reveals problems with prison staffing, pre-release preparation, and numerous instances of contract violations by private prison contractors. A …
