On July 13, 2010, the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division notified Robertson County of its intent to open an investigation of conditions at the Robertson County Detention Center ("RCDF"). On August 26, 2011, the DOJ issued a letter finding that Robertson County failed to protect prisoners from harm due to inadequate suicide prevention measures and inadequate mental health services.

According to the DOJ, the County did not take adequate measures to remedy the unconstitutional conditions at RCDF, and so on April 26, 2013, the Attorney General filed this lawsuit on behalf of the United States in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. The U.S. sued Robertson County, the County Mayor, the Robertson County Commissioners, and the Sheriff as the principal agents responsible for the conditions at RCDF under the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), 42 U.S.C. §1997. The plaintiff alleged that the RCDF violated prisoners’ Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments rights by exhibiting deliberate indifference to inmates’ health and safety by not implementing adequate suicide prevention tactics and lacking an overall strategy to assist inmates with mental health illnesses.

On April 30, 2013, the parties entered into a settlement agreement that stipulated that prisoners were to have timely access to a qualified mental health professional (QMHP) and that the QMHPs were to work as part of an interdisciplinary team to maintain a risk profile for each individual. It further outlined that RCDF would develop and implement policies to provide adequate mental health services to inmates as well as a training program for staff.

In the ninth and final compliance report, the United States reported that Robertson County had maintained substantial compliance with all of the 48 provisions in the agreement and had operated a substantially adequate mental health care system for a sufficient period of time to warrant completion of the settlement agreement. As such, the parties jointly moved to dismiss the case and to terminate the settlement agreement and the order that enforced it. On March 30, 2018, District Judge William L. Campbell, Jr. granted the motion and dismissed the case with prejudice. There are no other entries apparent on the docket and the case is presumably closed.

Nichollas Dawson - 11/27/2017
Jake Parker - 06/29/2018


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