NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Families who have lost loved ones in Tennessee prisons gathered this week in Lebanon to share their stories and demand reform by state lawmakers, hoping their voices will spark change in a system they say is failing inmates.
At the corrections townhall, attendees stood to represent family members who died while incarcerated in Tennessee facilities. Their stories painted a troubling picture of conditions inside state and private prisons.
"He's been in isolation since February because they were threatened to rape or kill him," one family member said.
"I know he suffered and I know that the cellmate told me that he didn't even know how to do CPR," another said.
The families recounted incidents of overdoses, extortion and preventable deaths within the prison syste