Danny Lowrance was less than a year away from being released on parole when he became ill. He had served four years of his six-year prison term and had been receiving credits for good behaviour. His mother, Pam Lowrance, spoke to him on March 22nd for the last time, prior to his passing away at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville two weeks later.
The next time she heard about Danny was from a physician from VUMC, who was following up on her son’s advanced directive. He had encountered a stroke caused by septic shock and was not reacting. Pam informed the Scene that he did not receive any medical care. He had been ill and initially assumed it was an allergy, but eventually his bodily functions began to shut down.
Pam organized Danny’s funeral near her home in Chattanooga, with his family and some of his old friends present. She reported that he had been trying to obtain medical care for approximately a week, however, they only accepted him after he fainted. When one is a ward of the state, they are in charge of providing medical care, shelter and food, like looking after a child. She believes that he would still be alive if they had just given him some antibiotics.
Danny passed away at VUMC on April 10, making him the 38th prisoner to die in Tennessee correctional facilities since the beginning of the year. There were 182 fatalities in prisons across the state in 2022, a slight decrease compared to the 191 deaths in 2021.
Since the death of Lowrance, six more people have sadly passed away, including Charles Nelson, 41 years old, at Trousdale Turner Correctional Center, a prison opened by CoreCivic in 2016. This is the state’s largest facility, accommodating over 2,500 inmates, and is the subject of a never-ending list of lawsuits.
A lawsuit submitted in March versus particular CoreCivic personnel, including former warden Martin Frink, claims oversight and “premeditated apathy” in the demise of Jose Torres at the hands of another detainee last year. In February, CoreCivic welcomed its sixth warden in seven years, Vince Vantell.
Since its launch, Trousdale has been criticized for its poor management and lack of sufficient personnel. Relatives of those detained have accused the facility of rampant violence, arbitrary lockdowns, staff retaliating against detainees, and difficulties contacting their families. Pam and other members of the Facebook group “Loved Ones in Trousdale Turner” discuss how to support inmates.
Pam is confronting the legal and bureaucratic issues caused by the government one month after her son Danny’s death at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. On the day she gives an interview to the Scene, she had just verified the documents required by the Tennessee Department of Correction so she could collect the $14.53 that remained in her son’s prison trust fund.
Pam informed the Scene that he was simply ill. She noted that the most memorable aspect of the situation was that they had him handcuffed until they removed him from the ventilator.
