The Tennessee Senate passed the law Monday, forcing state private prison operators to reduce the prison population at facilities with high mortality rates.
Senators voted 30-0 in favor Senate Bill 1115 It is sponsored by Republican Sen. Mark Podi of Lebanon. Lebanon’s Mark Podi wants to update the parliamentary corrections and oversight committee and take action if private operator Corecivic is unable to lower the mortality rate.
The bill calls for a 10% reduction in the prison population of prisons run by corecivic if it is twice as high as the death rate in comparable state prisons. It also needs to resolve the issues that cause high mortality.
House version, HB114backed by Lebanon Republican Rep. Clark Boyd, is not expected to be considered until the House members approve the budget within two weeks. Podi said he expects there will be no problem with the house version passing.
Lebanon resident Tim Reeper said after Monday’s vote he believes there will be no profit in privatization of the prison except for corecivic shareholders. The Senate vote will send a message that lawmakers are not satisfied with the private prison, he added.
“It records us, it records lawmakers. Now there’s a problem. Without it, the law that has advanced to this point wouldn’t have been unanimously progressed,” his son died of an overdose at Trousdale Turner Prison, one of the four in Tennessee.
A state director-general audit shows that Trousdale Turner had 146% employee turnover in 2023, making it more difficult to see prisoners and avoid murder and drug overdose. Trousdale Turner, which is under a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, has a 33.7% vacancy rate for the Amendment Officer, compared to 26% in state prisons, officials said earlier this year.
Still, the state is asking private prison operators to increase contracts by $6.8 million, despite contract shortages since 2022, punishing the company $44.78 million for $15 million over the past six months.
Corecivic is paid based on the number of prisoners in the home and simply waives state payments, rather than paying those penalties.
A spokesman for Corecivic said in a recent email statement that prisoner safety, health and well-being are “first priority” and that each facility has an emergency response team to handle medical care. All deaths were reported to the state immediately for investigation, he said.
Tennessee Amendment Chairman Frank Strada calls the company a key “partner.”
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