CALEB Press Conference on Jail Conditions
On Tuesday, July 22nd, 2025, CALEB's Criminal Justice Task Force held a press conference to highlight the deadly and brutal conditions of the Hamilton County Jail, and to call for an automatic release order for lower-level offenses to address overcrowding and the constitutional rights of defendants. During the conference we highlighted the terrible story of Timothy Burt, one of the many active lawsuits against the county for medical neglect. We shared the high rate of jail deaths locally (2.2 times above the national average), and shared the experiences of CALEB's court watchers in Hamilton County General Sessions Court.
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Nick Hill, "CALEB alleges 22 deaths at Hamilton County Jail over the past two years as Sheriff disputes their data," News Channel 12, July 22, 2025
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Logan Dubel, "Data discrepancy: Hamilton County Sheriff, advocacy group at odds," Local 3 News, July 23, 2025
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Sheriff Garrett and the Sheriff's Department spokesman immediately denounced our press conference, claiming our jail death numbers were "absolutely ludicrous," and that CALEB as an organization lacked integrity. In addition, coverage from the Chattanooga Times Free Press misquoted our spokesman, giving the impression that the jail death numbers we used were pulled from 2018 to the present.
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Sofia Saric, "CALEB slams Hamilton County Jail, uses inaccurate death data." Chattanooga Times Free Press, July 22, 2025
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On Friday, July 25th, 2025, CALEB responded to the sheriff allegations in a press release, copied below.
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CALEB Responds to Sheriff allegations Regarding July 22nd Press Conference
July 25th, 2025 Chattanooga, TN - On July 22nd, the Criminal Justice Task Force for Chattanoogans in Action for Love, Equality and Benevolence (CALEB) held a press conference around jail conditions, jail deaths, and the need for an automatic release order to address overcrowding and brutal conditions. Hamilton County Sheriff Austin Garrett demeaned our organization’s integrity in disputing the data we presented. We aim to set the record straight. From 2023 to now, the jail has reported 9 official deaths. We count 22 jail-related deaths. Eleven out of the 22 deaths we cited were cases found on the Hamilton County court website. Under their dispositions, it states that their sentences were “abated by death”. With no bondsman listed and no conditions set for their release, such as parole or community service, these cases are indistinguishable from those that the sheriff’s office lists as official in-custody deaths. One of the two recommendations that was made at our press conference was transparency of data. This includes how publicly available records are kept and presented. If this information is inaccurate, it is not the fault of the sheriff’s office, but neither is it ours. We disagree with how the sheriff’s office qualifies and categorizes official deaths. For example, Gregory Leverett was attacked by other inmates in the jail and was transported to Erlanger, where he succumbed to his injuries 8 days later. While his fatal injuries were sustained in custody, because he was released and then taken to the hospital, the sheriff’s office does not count his death among their official numbers. We do. Furthermore, the Sheriff’s Office categorizes cases such as Timothy Burt’s as “natural death.” In reality, a remarkably sick Mr. Burt died for reasons having to do with neglect. Mr. Burt was arrested from Erlanger Hospital against the advice of medical professionals. His condition worsened when the jail failed to provide one of his prescription medications. The jail also failed to perform a medical screening until 45 days after Mr. Burt’s arrest, which violates the jail’s policy of performing full medical screenings within 14 days of an inmate's incarceration. On Tuesday, July 29th, 2025, CALEB will publish affidavits and other publicly available court records related to the case of Mr. Burt. These records clearly demonstrate the failures leading to Timothy Burt’s death. Lastly, in the Chattanooga Times Free Press article following our press conference, the statement of our representative was not worded in a way that clearly conveyed his intended message. Allen Shropshire said CALEB started the Hamilton County Community Bail Fund in 2018, and that we’ve been focused on the pretrial situation since that time. He did not say that the jail death numbers we cited were from 2018 to 2024. This misquoting led to unnecessary confusion. Ultimately, we feel our message was lost due to the back and forth about numbers. Our focus was not simply the numbers, but the devastating, and sometimes deadly, consequences of being jailed in Hamilton County. The sheriff himself said the jail is the most dangerous place in the county. This is precisely why we are calling for the implementation of an automatic release order for non-violent misdemeanor offenses. Legally innocent people should not be left to await trial for up to 14 days in dangerous conditions simply because they cannot afford their bond. " |
On Accuracy of Jail Deaths
Earlier this year, CALEB released "Looking Through the Bars: Race, Poverty & Pretrial Detention in Hamilton County, TN." Relying on data provided to us by an open records request to the county, our data contractor analyzed two years of information related to arrests, incarceration and pretrial detention. Prior to publication we reached back out to the Sheriff's Dept. to clarify a number of questions regarding the data, including a list of 21 defendants whose dispositions were listed as "abated by death." Multiple attempts were made, and the Sheriff's Dept. had ample opportunity to contest or clarify these findings. No reply was received. These 21 instances, plus the case of Gregory Leverett whose charges were dismissed after he was fatally wounded, made up the numbers we used at our July press conference.
The Case of Timothy Burt
Unless it is a high-profile case, the general public rarely sees what the court process uncovers regarding the practices of public institutions. This case, and others, offer a window into the state of the Hamilton County Jail.
CALEB is releasing public record documents related to the Burt v Hamilton County litigation against Hamilton County. There are thousands of pages of evidence, depositions, and affidavits for Mr. Burt’s case. We have selected various pertinent information to give a succinct breakdown of what this lawsuit reveals.
CALEB is releasing public record documents related to the Burt v Hamilton County litigation against Hamilton County. There are thousands of pages of evidence, depositions, and affidavits for Mr. Burt’s case. We have selected various pertinent information to give a succinct breakdown of what this lawsuit reveals.
On mischaracterization of jail deaths
CALEB finds it useful to note that we are not the only ones who dispute the sheriff's categorization of deaths. In one of the many active lawsuits against the jail and county, Hamilton County's former District Attorney, Neal Pinkston, charges that "Garrett has found one way to manipulate those statistics..." (Pg. 16)
