TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Dec 19, 2022

A Tennessee judge on Friday promised to rule quickly on a request for public access to records that detail the treatment of a death row prisoner who injured himself while on suicide watch last fall. In a lawsuit filed in Davidson County Chancery Court, inmate Henry Hodges accused the state of providing inadequate medical and mental health care and of cruel and unusual punishment once he returned to the prison from the hospital. The state has asked for a court order that would protect broad categories of documents from public disclosure, including all video recordings of Hodges’ treatment while in prison. The Associated Press and the Nashville Banner are asking for those records to be opened. Former TBA Communication Section Chair Paul McAdoo, an attorney with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, is representing the AP.