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.