July 2nd, 1985
(This segment is my fictional adaptation of spoken historical records I’ve received from those involved or adjacent to the following events.)
By the time the sun crested the limestone bluffs east of Nashville, two Tennessee state prisons were on fire, the incarcerated held twelve guards hostage, and then Governor Lamar Alexander, isolating himself in the old West Nashville Fallout bunker, received a briefing on what his staff alluded to as a “serious disturbance” and what would become known in political history as the 1985 Tennessee State Prison riots.
The incarcerated, enduring conditions that would have made the UN question the United States’ membership in its company, along with their attorney Gordon Bonnyman, who would become the Tennessee Justice Center’s co-founder, filed a class action lawsuit years before putting the entire system on trial. A Judge ruled, yes, INDEED, their living conditions were unconstitutional and told Tennessee to figure its sh*t out. Within a few years, Governor Alexander had not moved with the alacrity necessary to stave off the frustration.
Watching the smoke, most likely from his cozy Belle Meade house (once again, this is fiction), was Tom Beasley, former chairman of the Tennessee Republican Party, who two and a half years earlier had co-founded the Corrections Corporation of America, perhaps stalking the scent of an opportunity knowing that Governor Alexander’s "Three Strikes Rule” would lead exactly to a moment such as this. His pitch was ripe and seductive, so much so that Governor Alexander’s wife, Honey, bought CCA stock, as would Governor Alexander, and some would argue that by then, it was just a matter of time. By 1992, CCA opened the first privately operated prison in Tennessee history, and the company that was born from a humanitarian crisis metastasized into a $2 billion empire, now rebranded as CoreCivic, still headquartered in Nashville, still collecting $243 million a year in state contracts, still under federal investigation for the same violence and understaffing that cracked the system open in 1985.
The “Tennessee solution,” if you will.
I recently watched the Academy Award-nominated documentary The Alabama Solution at Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Center. (If anyone reading this was present, I apologize for my public outbursts and aggressive huffing.) I won't spoil the film, but what continues to be true about incarceration in the South is its iterative relationship with plantation capitalism, coupled with the unwillingness of mostly Republican-led states to engage even a modicum of curiosity about why jails have not solved the problem of crime. If you'll humor me, the one scene I can't shake features Governor Kay Ivey calmly explaining that Alabama doesn't have a problem, while the film cuts to the Board of Pardons and Paroles denying parole after parole after parole, and then, in the background, her Windows Paint looking receipts for lawn care at the governor's mansion, maintained by men incarcerated at the nearest prison. Incarceration has never craved rehabilitation, but has always stalked profit, extraction, and death.
Now, let’s shift our attention to Tennessee. Last year, I filed a bill to allow legislators to witness state executions. I am fundamentally opposed to the death penalty (and as I said on the House Floor during the ‘24 legislative session, “the death penalty is incompatible with the right to life,” after which I was booed), but I wanted to ensure legislative accountability for the supermajority’s decisions to dole out capital punishment whenever they feel a little bit aggrieved. It failed, but the bill pulled me headfirst into the horrors of our state prisons and Tennessee’s lethal injection process. Tennessee resumed lethal injections after a four-year pause, caused by TDOC getting caught not testing its execution drugs for contamination in seven of eight prepared doses. The state has spent nearly $600,000 on execution drugs since 2017, including a single $525,000 invoice, bought from sources shielded by law. Every major pharmaceutical company refuses to sell drugs for executions, so Tennessee is buying its lethal execution drugs, with YOUR tax dollars, on the gray market: commercially manufactured pentobarbital that’s most likely diverted outside the DEA's tracking system. THIS IS NOT NORMAL.
And in the Lord’s year of 2026, House GOP leadership proposed a similar “three-strikes" rule, despite Tennessee’s own expensive and deeply unpopular history with its track record. I’m writing about this because those incarcerated at Tennessee prisons are still enduring abuse, or worse, like at CoreCivic’s Trousdale Turner facility, dying from neglect and battery despite the ongoing Department of Justice investigation; because the Tennessee legislature passed laws to ban books inside prisons; because TDOC is still botching executions and now preventing media from observing; because our loved ones are still wearing shackles seeing only 40 minutes of outdoor time in the yard PER MONTH (as indicated in a letter I received just this week from an individual at the Robertson County Jail); because, as we speak, the CoreCivic CEO Damon Hininger is slow-walking his run to take Marsha Blackburn’s place in the US Senate; and, because CoreCivic, which owns and operates at least ten ICE detention facilities, reported $2.2 billion in total revenue in 2025 despite being responsible the deaths of 22 Tennesseeans in their custody.
The criminal legal system exists solely for maintaining this country’s economic hierarchy, and in the next few years, we will face a recession, or perhaps worse, a 21st-century Great Depression, where many of those we love will be unemployed and broke. When that happens, the diabolical machine I’ve just described to you doesn’t settle in a dormant state; it goes hunting. Every economic downturn in American history has been greeted with the same patronizing response from those who own things, “the haves,” who criminalize the desperation of the people who don’t, “the have-nots”. When the rent can’t be paid, the Tennessee supermajority passed harsher trespassing laws. When groceries became unaffordable, the Tennessee supermajority passed harsher shoplifting penalties. When we took to the streets, the Tennessee supermajority passed anti-protest bills, expanded surveillance, and created a secret police force. The three-strikes revival isn’t a coincidence of timing, but rather a state reimagining infrastructure so that it’s ready to capitalize when the worst arrives on our doorstep.
One of the biggest lies this country has ever fed us is that you’re more likely to be swimming in caviar with the billionaires than you are to be in jail for your children being truant because your family is poor. Caring about the plight of Tennesseans who are incarcerated and understanding how that system is perpetuated by greed and capitalism is an act of solidarity, because those in power seek to build a cage big enough to eventually hold all of us.
The tide will turn in Tennessee, but it turns when we, as individuals, engage in intentional introspection as to our own impulses to incarcerate and punish others; remember that the carceral state lives in our heads before it lives in our laws. I invite you to join me in building a society where our collective needs prevail over profit and punishment, and I’ll be there when you get there.
Aftyn
P.S. If you’re interested in abolishing the death penalty, please check out Tennesseans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, a favorite organization of mine.
Announcements
SUMMER/FALL INTERNSHIP APPLICATION LAUNCH
We’re relaunching the Civilian Civic Corps, our political internship to learn how to run campaigns, and will also be offering internship opportunities in our legislative office for both the Summer and Fall. Have questions? Please e-mail internships@aftynbehn.com!
2026 REP. BEHN CANDIDATE ENDORSEMENT FORM
If you want an endorsement from me this year, I’ve created a form, as I’ve been overwhelmed and don’t have the capacity to manage the requests. Please read the preamble; it contains a lot of information.
FREE COMMUNITY CLASS | SATURDAY, APRIL 18TH
Join NAREB, the National Association of Real Estate Brokers, on Saturday, April 18th, for a community event helping Nashvillians learn the ABCs of home buying, including information for those seeking first-time home ownership. This event will be held at Knowledge Academies in Antioch, Tennessee, from 10 AM - 2 PM.
Legislative Updates
WHAT THE H*LL IS GOING ON
We’ve entered the legislative period when committees have closed, and the final sludge of bills is spilling onto the House Floor. Our Floor sessions on Mondays and Thursdays are longer, and we often also have Floor sessions in the mornings in between. Additionally, be aware that we have entered “flo-mo,” which means the rules are suspended, and bills can be expedited through committees at the behest of Republican leadership. Imagine Lord of the Flies, but with amendments.
End the Grocery Tax by Closing Corporate Loopholes: Our bill was “placed behind the budget,” which means that if there is enough money lying around after voucher expansion and Stephen Miller’s anti-immigrant agenda, maybe they’ll end the grocery tax. (But, probably not!) The good news? Rather than the usual procedural shenanigans, after presenting the bill, the Chair moved that this bill be placed behind the budget with no pushback. Ladies and gentlemen, we call that PROGRESS!
Pot for Potholes: Senator Campbell presented this bill in the Senate Judiciary, and it failed, but our organizing produced lots of laughs and penetrated “the culture.” A friend of mine was on a random date when her paramour asked her if she thought pot for potholes had any legs. With Trump declassifying marijuana, and the fact that the hemp industry is now out of a job on July 1st because the Legislature sold out to Big Alcohol, next session, we may see movement when it comes to medicinal. Senator Campbell and I plan to meet with our teams to plot how to make “Pot for Potholes” an election issue in this year's state elections.
P.S. If you submitted your worst pothole via our website, we will be in touch with your prize by the end of the month!
Children Over Checks (our DCS accountability campaign): We are overwhelmed by the support for this campaign! Over 430 Tennessee families have signed our petition calling on DCS reform. After submitting a complaint to the Department of Justice, we were rerouted to the Health and Human Services’ Office of Civil Rights. We’ve met with national stakeholders who affirmed that this was the best path forward, so we plan to work with the families whose profiles fit the complaint parameters over the next few weeks and submit it as an Omnibus complaint from our office. Additionally, we’ve been working with local organizations to host a legal clinic this Summer on June 20th in Nashville to provide on-site support for families in need. (Details to come later.)
Also, some very good news! Your advocacy resulted in removing the provision in HB2526 that would have sent foster children to juvenile detention centers. The bill still seeks to put more children in kiddie jails, but that’s a fight for another day.
Stopping CVS from bullying consumers: You may have received a text or email from CVS asking you to e-mail your state electeds asking them to vote no on SB2040, which would “SHUT DOWN HUNDREDS OF PHARMACIES IN TENNESSEE.” Please watch my interview with Ben Jolley, a rural independent pharmacist and a Senior Healthcare Fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project, who refutes these claims and provides historical context for how this became such an issue.
Also, another win! Our office sent an email to the Attorney General asking him to look into CVS’s use of consumer data to send political lobbying messages. We sent the letter on a Thursday, and by Monday, the AG’s Chief of Staff dropped by our office with a letter that the AG sent to CVS CEO telling him to “quit it!”
PINK CHAIR PLAYBACK AND PREVIEW IS BACK!
You asked! I delivered! I’ve been diligently recording my Pink Chair Playback and Preview, so you can stay up to date with the chaos at the Tennessee Legislature. I record these video segments weekly and release them on Saturdays/Sundays on Substack and social media platforms.
You watch the most recent one below from last week, which I recorded yesterday. Enjoy the Spice World reference. (:
Take Action
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD ON NASHVILLE’S EAST BANK
CM Emily Benedict is asking for your input to inform East Bank/East Bend rezoning in Nashville. The Nashville Metro council is considering blanket rezoning for East Bend, which is the 47-acre riverfront downtown Nashville.
“If you have thoughts about what you want to see in the East Bend, now is the time to speak. Even a short email makes a difference. Please email your thoughts to: Councilmembers@nashville.gov or each CM directly at firstname.lastname@nashville.gov.”
If you want to share more, tell us your position on any of these, for instance:
What should the East Bank prioritize?
What concerns do you have?
What does responsible growth look like to you?
Should uses be restricted to prevent entertainment like we see across the river?
Does this zoning bill require the elements being promised?
Will this truly be a neighborhood for Nashvillians?
How should building heights relate to the rest of the riverfront’s design throughout the entire East Bank from Jefferson/Spring all the way to East Bend? (The new stadium is ~25 stories.)
In The Press
Dem lawmaker calls on AG to investigate CVS over text campaign to oppose PBM bill
Tennessee lawmakers want to legalize pot to help pay for roads
Oracle Pursues Zoning Change for East Bank Campus Amid Layoffs
On the Go
Stakeholder Meetings in March and April
National Association of Real Estate Brokers
Tennessee Justice for Our Neighbors
Nashville Children’s Alliance
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