TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on May 12, 2025

Tennessee has renewed its contract with private prison operator CoreCivic to run the South Central Correctional Facility in Wayne County. The State Building Commission approved the three-year, $168 million contract during a meeting last Thursday. The contract will take effect July 1 and run through June 30, 2028, according to the Nashville Post. The South Central facility is one of four prisons in Tennessee operated by CoreCivic that have faced scrutiny in recent years over poor conditions and inmate deaths. The new contract comes as the state legislature recently passed HB1144/SB1115 as amended, increasing oversight of private prisons by requiring a facility’s inmate population to be reduced by 10% if its death rate is twice that of a comparable state-run prison. The legislation, signed by Gov. Lee on May 9, also requires population reductions to continue until the issues are resolved.

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