Metro Nashville is taking legal action against the state. This time, it isn’t what has become a common type of city-versus-state legislative lawsuit. Rather, it’s about people convicted of crimes and how they are housed.
In a motion filed with the Davidson County Circuit Court, Metro claims it’s been subsidizing the state by more than $5 million per year by continuing to house people who have already been sentenced in criminal court.
The Davidson County Sheriff’s Office generally houses people awaiting trial, as well as some who have been locally sentenced. After trial, if they are sentenced to state custody, they are required to be held by the Tennessee Department of Correction.
Metro has filed ten motions, requesting that TDOC answer in court why it has failed to comply with lawful sentencing orders in ten different cases.
“Soon after I took office in 2023, Sheriff Hall began expressing his concerns about the severe overcrowding issues in his jails, which both created management and financial burdens,” Mayor Freddie O’Connell said in a statement. “Metro is currently subsidizing the State … that is not acceptable or sustainable.”
TDOC told WPLN News it does not comment on pending legislation.
The city is filing a separate claim to try to recoup the spending.
“We are not going to tolerate that anymore,” Metro Legal Director Wally Dietz told WPLN News. “The mayor has made it clear to me and to others that, in view of the lack of a working relationship on so many different things — including the Airport Authority — that we just cannot tolerate that budget deficit. They owe us that money and we will pursue a claim against the state in a separate filing.”
Dietz wrote the governor late last year to try to avoid litigation but says the issue went unresolved.
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