Private prisons reach deal with women forced to show tampons
NASHVILLE — An agreement has been reached in a lawsuit between the nation’s largest private prison operator and women who were ordered to remove their tampons or sanitary pads to prove they were menstruating and not trying to smuggle in contraband.
A federal court order on Monday dismissed claims against Corrections Corporation of America, now named CoreCivic, and officers at South Central Correctional Facility about 85 miles southwest of Nashville.
Neither side would discuss specifics. The outcome suggests a confidential settlement that leaves the larger privacy rights question unresolved.
It also shields the information from having to be released under Tennessee’s public records law, said Alex Friedmann, managing editor of prisoner rights publication Prison Legal News.