Tennessee Prison Group Try's to Stop Election of Gus Puryear as Federal Judge

Gus Puryear who has been recent counsel for (CCA) Corrections Corporation of America, a private for-profit prison company has been nominated to be Federal Judge in the same district as CCA. A Tennessee group named "Tennesseans against Gus Puryear" claim this would be a bad thing and list reasons on their website why Gus Puryear should not be elected.

The group states that Puryear has little experience as a trial lawyer, and "has worked to hide damaging information about the company and has belittled prisoner litigation." They state it would be a conflict of interest for Puryear to serve as Federal Judge, since he was involved with selling shares of CCA stock which made him a muli-millionare.

According to the group Over 400 cases have been files against CCA and or staff of CCA. Puryear is reported to give false information about the number of cases. Puryear is said to be inexperienced as a trial lawyer, and when he did work for a law firm he "mainly assisted other attorneys." The group states that because of his involvement with the Republican party, as well as that of CCA this nomination is a partisan political appointment.

Other reasons include Puryear's dislike for prisoners who file suits, and act as "jailhouse Lawyers," and has said the lawsuits "were outlets for prisoners to do in their spare time", since some of the lawsuits filed by inmates are serious, such as rape of a female prisoner by staff, abuse of juveniles, death of an inmate, and medical neglect.

In the year 2004 a female prisoner Estelle Richardson was beaten to death, and found unresponsive in a solitary confinement cell. Although a medical examiner ruled her death a homicide, he also stated that the injuries could have been self inflicted according to the website. Four guards who were indicted on murder charges, eventually had their charges dropped, and the group accuses Puryear of protecting CCA and not acting in the inmate and her family's best interest. A letter posted on the site clearly shows that medical examiner Dr. Bruce Levy has conflicting thoughts about Puryear. You can read the letter here.

The group has a list of fax and telephone numbers for concerned citizens who oppose the election of Gus Puryear and stated that it's not to late to voice your opinion. Other information can be read about this issue on their website, created to draw attention to this matter.

Source:

http://www.againstpuryear.org/