$4.9 Million Settlement: Shelby County Jail Inmates Held Past Release Dates After Odyssey Software Rollout

In November 2016, Shelby County, Tennessee activated the Odyssey case management system built by Tyler Technologies to track defendants moving through the county's criminal courts and jail. Within days the system was failing at basic tasks. Booking data arrived days late. Bond payments weren't recorded. Release orders sat in the system unprocessed while the people they covered remained behind bars. Jail staff noted internally that the intake process was running six times slower than normal.

The human cost was immediate. Scott Turnage was held for more than eighty hours because the system was pulling outdated warrant data. Cortez Brown sat in a cell for seven days after his charges were dismissed, because Odyssey hadn't caught up. Issacca Powell was held eleven days, including two days after he had already posted bond, because the system showed a warrant that no longer existed. Jeremy Melton spent four extra days locked up after a judge signed his release order, because the order wasn't reflected in the system. Each of these people had a legal right to leave. The software didn't know it.

A class action was filed in December 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee. Brice Timmons of Donati Law PLLC served as class counsel alongside Frank Watson and William Burns of Watson Burns LLC and Michael McLaren of Black McLaren Jones Ryland and Griffee PC. The complaint alleged Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment violations under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983 against Shelby County and Sheriff Bill Oldham, and negligence claims against Tyler Technologies. The court maintained jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act after finding aggregate claims exceeded $5 million and the class likely numbered more than 1,000 people.

The class covered anyone booked into the Shelby County Jail between November 1, 2016, and March 21, 2021, who was detained after the legal authority for that detention had ended. Notice eventually reached more than 13,000 addresses. The compensation structure reflected the severity of each person's experience: $750 per day for the first three days of overdetention, $1,000 per day for days four through eleven, and $2,500 per day for each day beyond twelve, up to a cap of $75,000 per person.

In April 2021 the Shelby County Commission voted to approve the county's $2.45 million contribution toward resolution of the lawsuit. The gross settlement fund across all defendants reached $4.9 million. The federal court granted final approval and certified the settlement class, finding the agreement fair, reasonable, and adequate. The settlement also included injunctive relief: an expedited grievance process for inmates who believe they are being held past their release date.