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Committee advances bill to reduce private‑prison population if inmate death rate doubles state average; family testimony urges action
Summary
House Bill 11 44 was advanced March 19 after testimony from a family member and committee discussion; the bill would require a 10% population reduction at a private prison whose death rate is more than double that of an equivalent state facility, using a rolling 12‑month measure.
The State and Local Government Committee on March 19 advanced House Bill 11 44 after amending it and hearing testimony from family members who say private prison conditions contributed to inmate deaths.
Chairman Boyd, sponsor of the measure, told the committee the bill is intended to provide accountability for private prisons by comparing the death rate at private facilities to equivalent state‑operated prisons. Under the bill as described for the committee, if a private prison's death rate over a rolling 12‑month period is more than double that of an equivalent state facility, the Department of Corrections would reduce the population at the private facility by 10 percent and move those inmates to state prisons.
Tim Leeper, a constituent who testified in committee, described the death of his son, Kyle, while incarcerated at a CoreCivic facility in Trousdale County. Leeper said the facility was chronically understaffed, that contraband (including fentanyl) had entered facilities, and that rehabilitative programming was effectively unavailable due to capacity limits. He said overdose deaths and violence were unusually high and attributed his son's death to failures at the private facility. "CoreCivic can't keep inmates alive," Leeper said.
Members asked questions about how the calculation would be made and who would trigger a review. Chairman Boyd said the Tennessee Department of Corrections would review publicly available information and, if it found the double‑rate threshold, would reduce the private facility population; Boyd said precedent exists for moving inmates between facilities for safety and capacity reasons. Committee members also discussed liquidated damages and whether current enforcement tools are effective.
After committee debate and testimony, the committee voted 22 ayes and 0 nays to send the amended bill to Finance, Ways and Means.
The bill as described instructs the Department of Corrections to monitor mortality and take specified population steps if thresholds are met; it does not itself reassign staff or change contracts except as triggered by the specified mortality threshold.
