News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
A bipartisan bill aimed at making sure Tennessee prisoners are no longer encouraged to undergo sterilization in exchange for reduced jail time passed the state legislature Tuesday.
The legislation in response to uproar last year when White County Judge Sam Benningfield signed an order allowing inmates to get out of jail 30-days early if they agreed to a free vasectomy or long-acting birth-control implants.
Dozens of inmates took the deal, according to at least one of several federal civil rights lawsuits filed as a result of the order.
