News in Brief by Arizona: In January 2021, two women who worked at an Arizona state prison operated by Florida-based GEO Group pleaded guilty to having sex with inmates there. Melony Petrovffsky, 50, ran the commissary for the private contractor at a prison in Golden Valley, where she was allegedly …
Sixth Circuit Affirms Tennessee DOC’s Hepatitis C Treatment Due to Lack of Funds by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s grant of judgment for prison officials in a class action that alleged that the Tennessee Department of Corrections’ (TDOC) Hepatitis …
News in Brief by Afghanistan: As fighting continued between Taliban forces and the Afghan military on September 3, 3020, both parties announced they had nearly completed a prisoner exchange negotiated the previous February. According to a report by Japan’s public broadcasting company, HNK, the Taliban said all 1,000 Afghan prisoners …
CoreCivic Sued Over Prisoner Who Committed Suicide in Tennessee Prison by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On August 19, 2020, the parents of a prisoner who committed suicide a year earlier at a privately operated Tennessee prison filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Nashville-based CoreCivic, alleging the company’s employees …
Sixth Circuit Grants Qualified Immunity to Sheriff in Tennessee Prisoner’s Assault Case by David Reutter by David M. Reutter The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals on August 10, 2020, reversed a Tennessee federal district court’s order denying defendant’s motion for summary judgment on a claim that a sheriff was deliberately …
Tennessee Prisons “Naughty” List Shows Prison Staff Often Bring in Contraband by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon Anyone even vaguely familiar with prison operations know how quick prison officials are to allege any contraband found inside a prison had to have been brought in by a visitor. Investigators with the …
Tennessee Juvenile Murderer’s Sentence Commuted by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon One of the late great singer Karen Carpenter’s hit songs was Bless the Beasts and the Children, wherein she lamented that neither has choice nor voice. Such was the case with young Cyntoia Brown, who found herself being trafficked …
Tennessee Conference of NAACP v. Lee, TN, Class Action Complaint, Voting Rights for Former Felons, 2020 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE NASHVILLE DIVISION TENNESSEE CONFERENCE of the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION for the ADVANCEMENT of COLORED PEOPLE, on behalf of itself and its members, and …
News in Brief by Alabama: Chanting “not one more,” about 30 carloads of protesters from “Alabamians Who Care” caravanned to the governor’s mansion in Montgomery on August 1, 2020, protesting a plan by Gov. Kay Ivey (R) to build three new “mega-prisons.” According to a report by Montgomery TV station …
News in Brief by Alabama: The Birmingham News reported that an Alabama prison guard had been arrested for drug trafficking after a search of his vehicle when he arrived for work at the St. Clair County prison turned up 138 grams of methamphetamine and 16 grams of heroin. Ivan Caldwell, …
Investment Firm Buys Corizon by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On June 30, 2020, Flacks Group, a Miami-based global investment firm, announced that it had purchased Brentwood, Tennessee-based Corizon Health, one of the nation’s largest private providers·of health care services in prisons and jails. The purchase price was not disclosed. …
$1.25 Million Settlement Against Tennessee County Over Sheriff’s Violations of Labor Law by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On December 10, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee approved a class action settlement in which Madison County agreed to pay $1.25 million over claims alleging that …
Jennette v. Stallings, TN, Complaint, Wronful Death, 2020 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE COLUMBIA DIVISION DOMINIQUE JENNETTE, as next friend of William Edward Jennette, Jr., deceased, ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) PLAINTIFF, …
News in Brief by California:In June 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) commuted 21 state prisoners’ sentences, a dozen of them were for murder convictions, patch.com reported. Seven were committed when the prisoner was 22 or younger. Half of the prisoners are now 59 or older. One commutation went to …
Court Approves $1,250,000 Settlement in Suit Against Tennessee County for Fair Labor Violations by Douglas Ankney by Douglas Ankney On December 10, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, Eastern Division, modified and approved a $1.25 million settlement of a lawsuit against Madison County, Tennessee that …
From Super Villain to Super Man, Tennessee Prisoner Still Executed by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon Born in 1972, Tennessean Nicholas Sutton suffered a life straight out of a 5-star horror movie. His father was a mentally ill drug abuser and his mother abandoned him to the not­so-tender mercies of …
Smith v. CoreCivic, Inc., et al, TN, Complaint, Medical Neglect, 2020 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE NASHVILLE DIVISION JOHN SMITH and SOYNIA SMITH, as survivors and next of kin of ADDISON SMITH, deceased, Plaintiffs, vs. Case No. 3:20-cv-00563 CORECIVIC, INC., DAMON T. HININGER, …
Smith v. CoreCivic, Inc., et al, TN, Complaint, Medical Neglect, 2020 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE MIDDLE DISTRICT OF TENNESSEE NASHVILLE DIVISION JOHN SMITH and SOYNIA SMITH, as survivors and next of kin of ADDISON SMITH, deceased, Plaintiffs, vs. Case No. 3:20-cv-00563 CORECIVIC, INC., DAMON T. HININGER, …
Former Prisoners Are Running for Office In 2020 by Daniel A. Rosen by Daniel A. Rosen When those who have been incarcerated run for office, they can speak with authority about prison reform. They bring credibility that others simply can’t. In 2020, more ex-inmates than ever are coming out of …
New ACLU Study Says COVID-19 Deaths in Prison Will Soar Without More Releases, Fewer Arrests by Derek Gilna by Derek Gilna An April 22, 2020 report by the American Civil Liberties Union, with the collaboration of researchers from Washington State University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Tennessee, …
