Trivette v. Tennessee Department of Correction
Settled January 2025. TN DOC required to provide qualified interpreters and accessible programs to deaf prisoners. Report violations.
What this case is about
This is a settled class-action lawsuit against the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) by deaf and hard-of-hearing prisoners, settled in January 2025. The lawsuit followed a pattern of cases against state prison systems (Virginia 2010, Kentucky 2015, Maryland 2015, Georgia 2021). The case alleged TDOC failed to provide effective communication and qualified interpretation to deaf inmates: no ASL interpreters for medical, disciplinary, classification, education, or programming; no videophones; no visual emergency alerts; deaf prisoners punished for not following orders they couldn't hear; programming exclusion that lengthened sentences. The January 2025 settlement requires TDOC to provide qualified ASL interpreters at no charge for all major events, install videophones, provide visual and tactile emergency notification systems, train staff, implement written policies and outreach, and submit to monitoring. The case is in long-term compliance phase. If you (or a family member) is a deaf or hard-of-hearing person in Tennessee state custody and isn't getting these accommodations, that's a settlement violation. Report it.
Who may qualify
The settlement covers deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Tennessee state prisons (and their families/advocates). You can report a problem if: - The person is in Tennessee Department of Correction custody (state prisons; NOT county jails or federal BOP). - They are deaf or hard-of-hearing. - They aren't getting interpreters, videophones, visual alerts, or other auxiliary aids. You don't need to have been part of the original case to report current non-compliance.
What helps your case
Documentation: inmate identification and facility; specific access denial (medical, disciplinary, programming, emergency); medical/audiological documentation of qualifying disability; internal grievance records; records of programmatic exclusion or disciplinary consequences.
How to document what happened
Documentation strategy: contemporaneous narrative from incarcerated person; internal grievances (file even if denial expected); facility-level identification; coordinate with TN P&A and class counsel for systemic patterns.
What if you don’t have documentation?
Reports may proceed without contemporaneous records. Channels: class counsel (verify with TN P&A); Disability Rights Tennessee; DOJ administrative complaint; TN Human Rights Commission.
What this case doesn’t cover
Outside scope: TN county jails (independent Title II); federal BOP; visitor accessibility; medical-care quality (Eighth Amendment); programming-content discrimination unrelated to communication access.
Legal theory
ADA Title II + Section 504
Named defendants
- Tennessee Department of Correction
Case facts
- Type
- Class action
- Affected states
- TN
- Court
- U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee
Who to contact
Check who each contact can help before you call — most of them cover one place or one group of people.
Disability rights agency
Disability Rights Tennessee
Taking enquiries about this case.
For deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Tennessee Department of Correction custody. Tennessee's protection and advocacy agency, and they led this case and take intake.
Key dates
- Status
- Compliance phase, ongoing monitoring
- Settlement
- January 2025
- Companion cases
- VA 2010, KY 2015 (Adams), MD 2015 (Jarboe), GA 2021 (Harris v. GDOC)