Alleging grisly conditions including rampant gang activity, assaults and extortion at the prison, an inmate at South Central Correctional Facility in Clifton, Tenn., filed a federal lawsuit against Corrections Corporation of America and the Tennessee Department of Correction last month.
Similar cases tend to stall out after the initial filing, but U.S. District Court Chief Judge Kevin H. Sharp of Tennessee's Middle District is giving the suit the boost it needs to allow prisoner Gai Kuot's complaint to move forward — potentially opening up a much larger probe into conditions at Tennessee prisons.
In Sharp's 17-page order, the judge outlines Kuot's claims of inadequate health care, assaults and a culture that allows gangs "the unencumbered right to literally take over substantial portions of the housing unit, (i.e. whole tiers and staircases; and the shower units, ice machine, and exit and entrance to the very housing unit itself, as well as to the individuals cells/cell doors to enter the cells,) and forcing Plaintiff Kuot to have to be subject to the control and dominion of these violent (gang) affiliated inmates."
According to his complaint, Kuot, who is 40, has Hepatitis B and has yet to receive treatment at the prison. He also asserts policy-level failures at SCCF and says the staff at the prison was discouraged from reporting assaults in what he called an attempt to downplay the "true level of violence at TDOC prisons." Prison employees were encouraged to save money by reducing the number of classified gang members sent to maximum-security units, he also claims, and says the staff was directed to create a "militaristic environment" in which the plaintiff and other inmates were made to suffer for no real reason.
South Central Correctional Facility, about a two-hour drive southwest of Nashville, is one of seven Tennessee prisons run by Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America, a private company that employs eight lobbyists to work the Tennessee Capitol. CCA, and private prisons in general, have been widely accused of lacking adequate oversight. For example, in 2014, improper oversight led the FBI to investigate CCA prisons in Idaho, where prisoners alleged a facility had turned into a violent "gladiator school."
Sharp denied Kuot's claim for monetary relief, but the case would, if successful, call upon CCA and TDOC to resolve the alleged practices. Sources in the court system say they've seen enough complaints about conditions at SCCF to believe the grievance may have merit.
Kuot, who was convicted in 2013 of premeditated first-degree murder, first-degree felony murder and especially aggravated robbery, filed the case without an attorney.
While the case may have merit, the lack of a lawyer means it might not make much headway plowing through the justice system, says David Raybin, a criminal defense attorney at Nashville-based Hollins, Raybin & Weissman. Sharp's order is "much more extensive" than similar cases Raybin has seen in the past.
"And I've seen dozens and dozens," says Raybin, who is not involved in the case but whose practice deals often in civil rights suits. Sharp's initial order is procedurally what's known as a "first cut," Raybin says.
The vast majority of civil rights cases coming from prisoners are dismissed because they lack enough substance to justify even a preliminary review. Kuot's particular claim alleges CCA and other defendants violated his Eighth Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment — Kuot's massive and detailed 145-page complaint adds up to a "cascade of horrors," Raybin says.
"This one clearly made the first cut as it relates to the adequacy of the allegations that would allow for a civil rights claim," Raybin says. "If true, I think that this guy's allegations are significant, and the judge's order is right on target. This is the kind of thing I've heard for years about this facility."
But the federal court is also a "blunt object" when it comes to handling prisoner allegations, says the veteran attorney. Because the court does not have investigatory power, Raybin says the Tennessee General Assembly should bring back a tool previously utilized in dealing with such issues, like the legislative corrections oversight committee that lawmakers have done away with in recent years. Bringing back that committee is an idea outgoing Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey and other lawmakers have steadfastly opposed in the name of smaller government.
"The federal courts are uniquely ill-suited to handle cases like this," Raybin says. "And this is a CCA facility, so to me that creates another host of inquiry. Where is TDOC in all of this?"
CCA and TDOC did not respond to the Scene's requests for comment on the case before press time.
Without legislative action or enough cases to establish a class-action lawsuit to point a magnifying glass on prison conditions, Raybin says Kuot may not ultimately get the individual relief he's looking for.
Says Raybin, "In many cases, relief can only be systemwide."
