Charlie Gardner, Jr. v. Tennessee Department of Correction

This appeal involves a dispute between a prisoner and the Tennessee Department of Correction regarding the Department’s confirmation of the prisoner as a member of a Security Threat Group.  The prisoner filed a petition pursuant to Tenn. Code Ann. § 4-5-225 (2005) in the Chancery Court for Davidson County seeking a declaratory judgment that the Department’s Security Threat Group policies and their application to him were invalid. The trial court granted the Department’s Tenn.  R. Civ. P. 12.02(6) motion to dismiss, and the prisoner has appealed. We have determined that the prisoner failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted because Tenn. Code Ann. § 4-5-225 petitions cannot be used to challenge the Department’s internal management policies.