NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A longtime prison reform advocate asked a federal judge on Thursday to move him out of solitary confinement, claiming the punitive treatment violates his Constitutional rights.
Alex Friedman was arrested last year and accused of hiding loaded guns and ammunition in a jail under construction in Nashville. He was accused of gaining access to the new jail by dressing as a construction worker and stealing keys. Nashville Sheriff Daron Hall said during a news conference last year that he believed Friedmann was plotting a massive jail break. Friedmann has declined to comment on the allegations.
He faces charges of vandalism, attempted burglary, possession of burglary tools, and tampering with evidence, but he has not yet faced trial. Nonetheless, he has been held for 18 months in a state prison under conditions that are harsher than death row, according to the complaint.
In a letter to The Associated Press, Friedmann said he suspects he is being punished “due to my long-standing advocacy on behalf of Tennessee prisoners and my adversarial relationship with corrections officials.”
He notes that when he turned himself in, on Feb. 18, 2020, he was finalizing a settlement in a public records suit he had filed against the Tennessee Department of Correction. He also has testified before state legislative committees where he was critical of the department and private prison contractor CoreCivic, among other things.