Touching on issues similar to those in this post about private prison operators and their occasional claim that they should be exempted from public disclosure laws, a Tennessee court has ruled — repeatedly, and most recently on Thursday — that Corrections Corporation of America needs to release any documents requested by citizens related to lawsuits against the largest private prison contractor in the United States. CCA has argued in numerous appeals that, as a private company, their documents are not covered under Tennessee’s Open Records Act. The court disagreed. As an appeals court put it in 2009, “With all due respect to CCA, this Court is at a loss as to how operating a prison could be considered anything less than a governmental function.” From a press release on the ruling: On February 28, the Tennessee Court of Appeals issued its second ruling in a long-running lawsuit filed under the state’s Public Records Act against Corrections Corp. of America (CCA), the nation’s largest for-profit private prison company. The Court of Appeals affirmed the ruling of the lower court, holding that CCA must produce documents that it had refused to disclose, as well as pay attorney fees and costs in the case. …read more
Source: FULL ARTICLE at Forbes Latest