How Imprisoned People Forced to Pick Cotton Got ‘Prison Slavery’ Bans on the Ballot
On Election Day, voters in Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont will decide whether to close loopholes in their state constitutions allowing the forced labor of incarcerated people.
Bryce Covert Nov 07, 2022
When Prisons Locked Down, Prisoners Were Denied Release
Leaving prison often hinges on completing rehabilitative programming. The pandemic caused many of these required courses to be put on hold.
Daniel Moritz-Rabson Jun 29, 2021
The Medical Examiner Said He Died of ‘Excited Delirium.’ Medical Experts Say Police Strangled Him to Death.
Sterling Higgins died in a Tennessee jail in 2019 after officers pinned him to the floor. Two new medical experts’ reports describe the incident as homicide.
Tana Ganeva Mar 10, 2021
Suit Seeks $10 Million For ‘Senseless, Avoidable Death’ Of Tennessee Man In Custody
Sterling Higgins called 911 in March 2019 seeking help during a mental health crisis. Police took him to Obion County Jail, where he died after officers pinned him to a floor.
Tana Ganeva Jun 12, 2020
Tennessee Set to Execute Intellectually Disabled Black Man In Killing of White Woman Even Though Innocence Questions Persist
Attorneys say the prosecution’s theory of the murder case was ‘concocted out of whole cloth’ and based on ‘outdated racial stereotyping.’
Steven Hale Apr 29, 2020
Cash Bail Is Creating a Crisis in Rural Jails
A federal lawsuit alleges lack of due process in a rural Tennessee county, and reform advocates say its jail is hardly an outlier.
Jessica Pishko Mar 12, 2020
Tennessee Man Could Be The First Person In Nearly A Century To Be Executed After Being Forced To Represent Himself At Trial
Across the country, the death penalty is in steep decline. But in September, the state’s attorney general sought execution dates for nine men, and its Supreme Court set dates for two of them.
Steven Hale Feb 18, 2020
New Law Forces Dozens on Tennessee’s Sex Offender Registry From Their Homes
The legislation also makes it illegal for many ex-offenders to be alone with their own children.
Steven Yoder Jun 28, 2019
Wrongly Accused of Rape, Randall Mills Has Been Proven Innocent. But That Doesn’t Mean He’s Exonerated.
Vindication and compensation remain elusive for Tennessee’s wrongly convicted, in part because of the state’s parole board.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Mar 29, 2019
Memphis’s Juvenile Court Plagued By ‘Culture of Intimidation’ And ‘Blatantly Unfair’ Practices
The Department of Justice is leaving Shelby County, but discrimination against Black children in court continues, a federal monitor says.
Raven Rakia Feb 01, 2019
Cyntoia Brown and the Years Lost by Juvenile Lifers
In The Princess Bride, Prince Humperdinck has Wesley strapped to a device known as The Machine, which has a lever that can be raised from 1 to 50. When the lever is turned to 1, the machine sucks away one year of the victim’s life, with each tick of the lever corresponding to another year taken away. […]
Colin Miller Jan 29, 2018
Not A Cardboard Cutout: Cyntoia Brown and the Framing of a Victim
The evening of August 6th, 2004, 16-year old Cyntoia Brown shot and killed Johnny Allen, a 43-year-old Nashville resident who picked her up for sex. It was an act of self defense, she explained to police later; after Allen took her to his house, he showed Cyntoia multiple guns, including shotguns and rifles. Later in bed, as she described in court, he grabbed her violently by the genitals, his demeanor became threatening and, fearing for her life, she took a gun out of her purse and shot him.
Mariame Kaba, Brit Schulte Dec 06, 2017
Cyntoia Brown Case Reveals Entrenched Problems with Tennessee Juvenile Justice
State law makes it easier to throw Brown away than consider traumas youth face and offer them hope of rehabilitation.
Demetria D. Frank Dec 01, 2017
Tennessee Sheriff Launches ‘Busted Bingo’ To Round Up People With Warrants
“Kiss your boyfriend goodbye.”
Carimah Townes Nov 27, 2017
Mixed Signals: GPS Monitors on Memphis Victims
Nearly 70 victims of domestic violence and rape in Memphis are wearing GPS devices thanks to the city’s Sexual Assault Kit Taskforce, according to its monthly progress report published in October. The taskforce was created by the mayor’s office in 2014 after revelations that the Memphis Police Department had failed to test more than 12,000 rape kits. […]
Meaghan Ybos Nov 03, 2017
Tennessee Prosecutor Wants to Teach Men to Stop Buying Sex
Do these so-called “john schools” actually hurt women more than help them?
Carimah Townes Oct 25, 2017
Shoplifting from Wal-Mart can get you 12 years of prison time in Tennessee
The price of shoplifting at Wal-Mart isn’t always low.
Carimah Townes Sep 05, 2017
Basic constitutional rights still denied in misdemeanor courts
If there’s a chance you could wind up in jail, you have the right to an attorney whether or not you can afford one. The U.S. Supreme Court has reaffirmedand clarified this right more than once, in doing so making clear that it applies to both misdemeanor and felony offenses. Yet in Nashville, Tennessee, defendants in misdemeanor courts aren’t […]
Rebecca McCray Aug 18, 2017
TN court rules that prosecutor unconstitutionally excluded a black woman from jury
The Court of Criminal Appeals of Tennessee ruled recently that District Attorney General Robert Carter’s office improperly use a peremptory challenge during jury selection to prevent a black woman from serving on a jury. As a result, the court threw out Collins’ conviction and sentence.
Larry Hannan Jul 24, 2017