Criminal Justice & Policing
COVID fears reduce jail populations
COVID-19 may be succeeding where criminal justice reform advocates have long tried — and failed — in reducing overcrowding in many of Tennessee’s county jails. Jailers freed more than 9,200 women and men from local lockups across Tennessee between February and May, a 31 percent reduction in average daily inmate populations, according to a report […]
Head of Meharry Medical College: ‘indifference’ no longer an option in response to ‘hate and COVID-19’
Meharry Medical College President and CEO Dr. James Hildreth drew the comparison on Thursday between how America has responded to police brutality of minorities and the COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affecting people of color. Hildreth made the remarks during Mayor John Cooper’s biweekly press conference about the pandemic. On Saturday a peaceful protest against police brutality […]
Youth sent out of state by DCS return with COVID
The Tennessee Department of Children’s Services sent five teenage boys out of state to a Kalamazoo, Mich. facility for troubled youth. Three of the boys came back to Tennessee positive for COVID-19. The boys, ranging in age from 13 to 18, are among 52 children currently in DCS custody who have tested positive for the […]
Judge Kelvin Jones’ divorce raises questions of invasion of privacy, mysterious deposits
Nashville Judge Kelvin Jones accessed his wife’s work email in order to read attorney-client communications, secretly recorded her with a hidden camera and made large cash bank deposits last year, according to a series of filings by his wife in their divorce lawsuit. Jones, who was elected to the Circuit Court in 2014, is in […]
Health department gives names, addresses of Tennesseans with COVID-19 to law enforcement
The Department of Health is providing the names and addresses of Tennessee residents who test positive for COVID-19 to sheriffs and chiefs of police across the state on a daily basis — a practice raising deep concerns about privacy and government intrusion into the lives of ordinary citizens. The offer to share the otherwise protected […]