The Nation - News from Nov. 14, 1985

Twelve prisoners, victims of conflicting court orders, found themselves handcuffed to a fence outside a Tennessee state prison. Shelby County Sheriff Gene Barksdale, prohibited by one federal judge from holding convicted felons in county jail for more than five days, had tried to turn the 12 over to the prison. But the crowded state prison system has been ordered by another U.S. judge not to accept more prisoners, so the warden refused to take them. Then, the sheriff handcuffed them to the fence and left. However, the second judge ordered him to remove or release the prisoners. The 12 were then taken to the nearby Shelby County Penal Farm.