Latest news with #TimLeeper
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tennessee lawmakers send message to private prisons
Tim Leeper, the father of a man who was stabbed at a CoreCivic facility and later died, testifies. (Photo: John Partipilo/Tennessee Lookout © 2025) Tennessee's legislature put the state's private-prison operator on notice to keep death rates down or face a reduction in inmates, a move that could cut its state payments. House members voted 93-0 Monday in favor of House Bill 1144 by Republican Rep. Clark Boyd of Lebanon, which would require the inmate population at each CoreCivic-run prison to be reduced 10% if the death rate there is twice as high as the rate at a comparable state-run prison. The Senate previously approved its version of the bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Mark Pody of Lebanon. Boyd told lawmakers the bill is designed to bring 'accountability to the number of inmate deaths and violence' in Tennessee's private prisons. Inmates would be 'absorbed' by state prisons without an increased cost to the state, he said. 'Just losing 10% of their inmate population would hit them hard financially,' said Boyd, who worked with Lebanon resident Tim Leeper, whose son died of an overdose at privately-run Trousdale Turner. Tennessee levied $44.78 million in penalties against private prison operator in three years CoreCivic, a publicly-traded company that runs four state prisons, has struggled to keep its facilities staffed at the level required by state contracts. The Department of Correction penalized CoreCivic numerous times over the last few years, levying $44.78 million in liquidated damages for contractual shortfalls, mainly related to low staffing. A State Comptroller audit showed Trousdale Turner had a 146% employee turnover rate in 2023, making it harder to oversee inmates. The prison, which is under a civil rights investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice, had a 33.7% staff vacancy rate most recently, compared with 26% at state-run prisons, officials said. Trousdale Turner has had the highest number of deaths in a state prison for men the past few years, with 98 confirmed by death certificates from 2019 through 2022, including 30 overdoses, according to state figures. Whiteville Correctional Facility in Hardeman County had 53 deaths, 21 of those by overdose, in those four years. South Central Correctional Facility, also run by CoreCivic, reported 46 deaths, nine of them by overdose in that time frame. In comparison, Morgan County Correctional, a state-run facility, had 41 deaths, including 11 overdoses. Northwest Correctional Facility reported 44 deaths with 19 overdoses in those four years. Despite the shortcomings, the Department of Correction defends the prison company, calling it a valuable state 'partner.' The state has had trouble staffing the remaining 10 prisons, as well. CoreCivic says prisoner safety, health and well-being are 'top priority' and that each facility has an emergency response team to handle medical care. The company also says all prison deaths are reported immediately for investigation. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tennessee bill to penalize CoreCivic for death rate advances in Senate
A Tennessee Senate committee on Tuesday unanimously voted for legislation that would financially penalize CoreCivic prisons for their soaring death rates. The bill is a rare prison accountability measure to receive support in the Tennessee General Assembly. State leaders have expressed reluctance to substantially discipline the private prison operator over its systemic operational issues. The bill, Senate Bill 1115, would allow the state Department of Correction to remove 10% of the prison population from any private prison in the state once that prison's death rate reaches twice the average death rate in Tennessee-run prisons. As CoreCivic is paid according to its daily inmate population, the 10% reduction would immediately affect its profit margins in Tennessee. The legislation states the population reduction would continue "until the department determines that the conditions leading to the reduction have been corrected." The Senate State & Local Government Committee voted unanimously to advance the bill on the heels of testimony from Tim Leeper, the father of Kyle Leeper, who died of a drug overdose in Trousdale Turner Correctional Center in 2023. "CoreCivic cannot be trusted to keep inmates alive," Tim Leeper said. "They have become desensitized to death and human suffering." The Tennessean in January reviewed death data dating back to 2020 across state and CoreCivic prisons and found deaths occurred disproportionately in CoreCivic facilities. Between 2020 and 2023, 529 people died in general population Tennessee prisons, excluding 162 deaths that occurred in a medical unit prison. More than 50% of the 529 deaths occurred in CoreCivic's four facilities, despite CoreCivic housing less than 39% of the state's overall prison population during the same period. Familes and advocates sharply criticized CoreCivic facilities for its higher rates of death and sexual abuse compared to relatively fewer chances for education and mental health support than inmates have at state prisons. More: Two systems of justice: Families, audits say Tennessee's CoreCivic prisons underperform "At least in a [Tennessee Department of Correction] prison, they have a much better chance of staying alive and making it to the end of their sentence," Leeper said. Meanwhile, CoreCivic is on track to received a $6.8 million budget bump this year from its state contract, the same contract it continues to routinely violate. The company has racked up nearly $30 million in fines for failing to meet staffing guidelines and other contractual obligations, but reform advocates argue the fines are not a clear incentive for CoreCivic to improve its facilities. Leeper has accused CoreCivic of intentionally understaffing, a strategy that is "intentional and profitable." "Inmates have become a profit center for CoreCivic. They use the state like their own personal ATM machine," Leeper said. Still, Gov. Bill Lee and state corrections officials have indicated they're satisfied with the existing CoreCivic partnership and policy of levying fines for contract violations. CoreCivic's political action committee is among the biggest spenders in Tennessee politics, donating heavily to Republican leaders. 'I think we're holding them accountable, yes,' TDOC Commissioner Frank Strada said last month. 'I think they are doing the best that they can, and I do think they're a partner for us in the state, especially when it comes to population management.' The House companion bill, HB 1144, is up for committee debate on Wednesday. In a statement, CoreCivic said its facilities are subject to "multiple layers of oversight" from the state and American Correctional Association. "The safety, health and well-being of the individuals entrusted to our care and our dedicated staff is our top priority. This commitment is shared by our government partners at the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC)," said Ryan Gustin, CoreCivic director of public affairs. "Our facilities have trained emergency response teams who work to ensure that any individual in distress receives appropriate medical care, and we are deeply saddened by and take very seriously the passing of any individual in our care. Any death is immediately reported to our government partners and investigated thoroughly and transparently." This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tennessee bill to penalize CoreCivic for death rate advances in Senate
