Records access sought in case of inmate who severed penis

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee judge on Friday promised to rule quickly on a request for public access to records that detail the treatment of a death row prisoner who cut off his penis while on suicide watch in October.

In a lawsuit filed in Chancery Court in Nashville, inmate Henry Hodges accused the state of providing inadequate medical and mental health care.

The inmate, who was sentenced to die for the 1990 killing of a telephone repairman, also accused the state of cruel and unusual punishment for his treatment upon his return to the prison from the hospital. That included keeping him naked and tied down with restraints on a thin vinyl mattress over a concrete slab in a room where the lights were always on and there was no TV or radio.

Hodges was taken to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, where surgeons reattached his penis. After a few weeks in the hospital, he was returned to the prison. Hodges ended up having to return to the hospital to have his penis surgically removed after necrosis set in, according to court filings.

The state has asked for a court order that would protect broad categories of documents from public disclosure, including all video recordings of Hodges’ treatment while inside the prison. The Associated Press and the Nashville Banner are asking for those records to be open.

In court on Friday, Assistant Attorney General Dean Atyia argued that state law exempts certain categories of documents from public disclosure. Those include investigative reports, surveillance video, and other document directly related to the security of the prison.

The state has filed an affidavit by Ernest Lewis, the associate warden of security at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, stating that public disclosure of the prison records “could pose a...