TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

Recent COVID Outbreak at CoreCivic’s Nashville Facility Not Reported to Public

Posted by: Kate Prince on Aug 27, 2020

More than one third of the prisoners housed at CoreCivic’s Metro Detention Facility in Nashville tested positive for the COVID-19 virus in recent weeks, but a reporting loophole has kept those numbers out of the public eye, WPLN reports. All 170 prisoners who tested positive for the virus have now recovered, but those cases were never reported by the Tennessee Department of Correction. A CoreCivic spokesperson said the private facility sends daily reports to its contract monitor at the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, works closely with the Metro Public Health Department and reports COVID testing and case numbers to the Tennessee Corrections Institute, a state agency that oversees local correctional facilities. But, since the facility is not technically part of the state prison system or the sheriff’s office, it hasn’t been included in either agency’s reports to the public. TDOC says one other prison in Shelby County operates under a similar arrangement. CoreCivic facilities have accounted for nearly half of the system’s 3,300 COVID-19 cases and five of its nine deaths. The sheriff’s office is set to take over the Nashville prison in October after the company announced last month that it is ending its contract with Metro after nearly three decades.

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