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Department of Correction

Secrecy laws, low regulation and ‘gray markets’ mean Tennesseans know very little about the state’s lethal injection drugs

Catherine Sweeney

March 5, 2025

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Tennessee is set to resume executions in May, but the state’s lethal injection drug supply is shrouded in mystery.

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, Health Care, WPLN News Tagged With: Appalachia + Mid-South Newsroom, death penalty, Department of Correction, execution, executions, lethal injection, pentobarbital

NashVillager Podcast: Prison conditions in Tennessee

Nina Cardona

July 15, 2024

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Just how bad is life in Tennessee’s prisons? Plus the local news for July 15, 2024.

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, NashVillager Podcast, WPLN News Tagged With: CoreCivic, Department of Correction, prisons

Former Tennessee prisons director says ‘truth in sentencing’ bill could balloon prison population and make communities less safe

Samantha Max

March 30, 2022

Tony Parker
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WPLN criminal justice reporter Samantha Max sat down with This is Nashville host Khalil Ekulona to unpack the so-called “truth in sentencing” bill.

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, Features, News Hits, Politics, WPLN News Tagged With: 112th Tennessee General Assembly, Department of Correction, prisons, Tony Parker

Nearly 100 Coronavirus Cases At Trousdale County Private Prison Prompts Mass Testing

Samantha Max

April 28, 2020

All inmates at the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in Hartsville are getting tested for the coronavirus, after early rounds of testing uncovered 93 cases among the prison’s approximately 2,500 prisoners.

Filed Under: Coronavirus Live Updates, Criminal Justice, WPLN News Tagged With: CoreCivic, Coronavirus In Tennessee, Department of Correction

Tennessee Makes Final Preparations To Use Its Electric Chair Again

Samantha Max

December 5, 2019

Tennessee will execute its sixth death row inmate Thursday night since a hiatus ended in 2018. The courts and Gov. Bill Lee have denied all of Lee Hall’s last-minute appeals thus far. Now, Hall faces the electric chair. He’s the state’s fourth death row inmate to choose electrocution over lethal injection in the past year.

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, WPLN News Tagged With: Bill Lee, death penalty, Department of Correction, electric chair

After Tennessee Prisons Official Was Killed, Suspected Inmate Is At Large

Samantha Max

August 8, 2019

A senior Tennessee prisons employee has been killed, and an inmate on the loose is the suspect. Curtis Ray Watson escaped from the West Tennessee State Penitentiary on Wednesday and is still at large. 

Filed Under: Criminal Justice, WPLN News Tagged With: Department of Correction

Cost Of Health Care In Tennessee Prisons Is About To Spike

Julieta Martinelli

November 8, 2017

  Listen The care of prisoners’ health across the state will remain in the hands of the embattled current provider — Centurion of Tennessee. But as of next July, it’s going to get considerably more expensive.

Filed Under: WPLN News Tagged With: Department of Correction, News

More Inmates, Fewer Releases Busting Prison Budget

Blake Farmer

November 20, 2012

Inmates are entering Tennessee prisons faster than they’re being released, and the Correction Department says the unforeseen trend is busting the agency’s budget. The state prison system has asked for an extra $50 million to make it through this year.

Filed Under: WPLN News Tagged With: Department of Correction, prison population

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