Are Tennessee’s prisons hotbeds for crime? Plus, the local news for April 30, 2025.
After disruption, nonprofits will be able to send books to Tennessee prisoners again
Last year, the Tennessee Department of Correction made it impossible for books-to-prisons nonprofits to mail books to prisoners in Tennessee.
TN Republicans want a new public prison, as its private prison asks for more state dollars
Tennessee’s Department of Correction is asking for nearly $7 million in public funds to go toward the state’s for-profit prisons.
US Justice Department investigating ‘endemic’ violence at Tennessee for-profit prison
Trousdale Turner Correctional Center has the highest homicide rate of any prison in the country and is one of the most understaffed, according to data compiled by the DOJ.
Prisoners in the US are part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food brands
In a sweeping investigation, The Associated Press found goods linked to prisoners wind up in the supply chains of everything from Frosted Flakes cereal and Ball Park hot dogs to Gold Medal flour and Coca-Cola. The prisoners who help produce these goods are disproportionately people of color.
State lawmakers ‘disturbed’ by findings that the Department of Corrections failed to appropriately prevent and investigate sexual assault
State lawmakers on both sides of the aisle want answers from the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) about how it handles sexual assault following an audit from the state comptroller’s office. That audit discovered the department had violated state policy and the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA).
Formerly incarcerated people want their voting rights back. That’s why they’re suing Tennessee.
Tennessee has one of the strictest policies of all US states for formerly incarcerated people who want to vote. The state permanently bars people with felony convictions from voting unless they meet a rigorous set of standards and get the court that sentenced them to sign off. Recently, the state got even stricter, making the […]
Re-acclimating to life after incarceration
Most people who go to prison eventually get out. As difficult an experience as that can be, re-entering society afterward can be just as challenging as life on the inside — and in some ways, more so. What is it like to rebuild a life after spending years, or even decades, behind bars? What resources […]
Inside one Tennessee prison, men with life sentences mentor first-timers on navigating life behind bars and after release
People serving life sentences often have a lot of sway over the culture of a prison — they remain, while others cycle in and out. At a prison about an hour southwest of Nashville, men with life sentences are trying to use that influence for good.
28 people have died of overdoses in Tennessee’s prisons this year. Lawsuits blame understaffing and easily available drugs.
More than two dozen people have died of overdoses behind bars in Tennessee this year. Twelve of those deaths happened in privately operated prisons, run by Brentwood-based CoreCivic.
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