In what may go down as one of the most peculiar courtroom orders in U.S. history, a lawsuit was filed Thursday on the behalf of White County inmates in Tennessee, who were given quite the disturbing proposition by a tennessee Judge. Receive a Birth Control Implant called Nexplanon, in exchange for a reduced jail sentence, according to the Tennessean.
Advocacy lawyers operating on a pro bono basis from the legal arm of Nexus Service Inc , (a national GPS monitoring company) claims their clients' constitutional rights were violated by judge Sam Benningfield, Sheriff Oddie Shoupe, sheriff 's deputy Donna Daniels and White County.
'Judge was playing god.'
Mike Donovan, the CEO of Nexus Inc is calling this case a “eugenics scheme,” accusing Judge Benningfield of coercing inmates to “sterilize” themselves in order to get 30 days knocked off their sentence. Donovan told reporters outside a federal courthouse in Nashville, that Benningfield, Shoupe, Daniels and the county were all in collusion and were “playing god.”
According to the Tennessean, inmates who were willing, could sign up before they were processed at the jail, and would get a free vasectomy or a birth control implant. The lawsuit maintains that as many as 42 men received vasectomies and 35 women obtained birth control implants. If they did undergo either procedure, per agreement of Benningfield, they would get 30 days wiped off the slate.
One of those inmates, Christel Ward, received a birth control implant but never got her jail sentence reduced 30 days, the Tennessean reports.
'Criminals are the last person on earth that should be multiplying'
This case made national headlines back in May, and Benningfield’s quirky proposition started to quickly fall apart. According to BBC News, Benningfield was taken by surprise from the negative reaction of the public.
The Judge claims he has received many letters thanking him of his proposal and sentence reductions.
Benningfield also maintains that all of the inmates underwent these procedures on their own accord.
However, according to the BBC report, many civil liberty advocates believe Benningfield overstepped his boundaries. Author of Eugenic Nation, Alexandra Stern, told BBC that inmates weren’t able to make “autonomous decision-making” based on the dynamic of the hierarchical relationship between inmate and authority figures.
Ultimately, Judge Benningfield was forced to end his “eugenic” policy only months after he implemented it. He claims it was due to the fact that the Tennessee Department of Health would no longer fund it.
