Puryear's judicial bid takes another hit | Affairs of State | NashvillePost....

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Puryear's judicial bid takes another hit
Articles have Washington insiders saying Corrections Corp. general counsel
should keep his day job
By Ken Whitehouse

05-07-2008 11:13 AM —
A series of articles by the New York Times have Washington,
D.C. insiders saying that Gus Puryear should keep his day job.
Puryear, executive vice president and general counsel for
Nashville based Corrections Corporation of America, was
nominated by President George W. Bush last year to serve on
the U.S. District Court for Middle Tennessee.
Since the nomination, Puryear has been attacked here and in
Washington for everything from his handling of CCA legal
matters, his membership in the Belle Meade Country Club, to
his lack of experience outside of corporate law.

Gus Puryear

While the nomination of Puryear has not moved due to objections of U.S. Senators Ted Kennedy
and Diane Feinstein, he still has had hope of being confirmed to the bench. Now, a number of
NashvillePost.com sources are saying that hope is even in more jeopardy.
Democratic insiders in Washington contacted by NashvillePost.com say that what hope Puryear
had was effectively killed by a series of articles published this week by the New York Times.
Republican insiders acknowledge that the articles have made Puryear's bid "more complicated" and
there is no momentum to push him forward at this time.
While the articles don't mention Puryear by name, CCA is sharply criticized for their handling of the
death of Boubacar Bah and the labeling of his inmate file as "proprietary information - not for
distribution." Bah was 52-year-old tailor from Guinea who had overstayed a tourist visa.
While incarcerated, Bah had fallen and hit his head and became incoherent. According to the NYT,
"documents detail how he was treated by guards and government employees: shackled and pinned
to the floor of the medical unit as he moaned and vomited, then left in a disciplinary cell for more
than 13 hours, despite repeated notations that he was unresponsive and intermittently foaming at
the mouth."
He was eventually transported to a hospital, but his family was not notified of his whereabouts for
five days. He died four months later.

5/7/2008 1:21 PM

Puryear's judicial bid takes another hit | Affairs of State | NashvillePost....

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The Times also ran an editorial on this matter yesterday.
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