Case: Shoemaker v. Strada
3:26-cv-00367 | U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee
Filed Date: March 30, 2026
Case Ongoing
Clearinghouse coding complete
Case Summary
This is a lawsuit challenging the Tennessee Department of Corrections switch to a new tablet provider and resulting loss of digital content for incarcerated people.
On March 30, 2026, two women incarcerated in the Tennessee Department of Corrections (TDOC) brought this putative class action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. They sought to represent a class of all people currently and previously incarcerated at a TDOC facility who had purchased digital media content through TDOC’s JPay digital media program prior to March 31, 2025, and whose JPay tablets were confiscated and replaced with ViaPath tablets without transfer of their purchased digital content or compensation. Plaintiffs alleged that the digital content lost due to the tablet transition and TDOC's confiscation of JPay tablets included: music, games, paid and unpaid content, emails and photos, including from deceased relatives. They claimed that the tablet transition, without compensation, resulted in an unlawful taking in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, and was arbitrary, capricious, and without rational relationship to a legitimate governmental interest in violation of substantive due process. They sought declaratory relief, an injunction requiring TDOC to restore content to the new tablets or to provide credits, attorneys fees, and costs. The case was assigned to District Judge Eli Jeremy Richardson and referred to Magistrate Judge Jeffery S. Frensley. As of April 2026, it remains ongoing.
Summary Authors
Clearinghouse (4/7/2026)
People
For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73115410/parties/shoemaker-v-strada/
Richardson, Eli Jeremy (Tennessee)
Mothershead, Kyle F. (Tennessee)
Documents in the Clearinghouse
Docket
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73115410/shoemaker-v-strada/
Last updated Nov. 3, 2026, 5:09 a.m.
Docket for: Shoemaker v. Strada
Case Details
State / Territory:
Case Type(s):
Key Dates
Filing Date: March 30, 2026
Case Ongoing: Yes
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
Two women incarcerated in the Tennessee Department of Corrections, seeking to represent a class of "All people currently and previously incarcerated at a TDOC facility who purchased digital media content through TDOC’s authorized JPay digital media program prior to March 31, 2025, and whose JPay tablets were confiscated and replaced with ViaPath tablets without transfer of their purchased digital content or compensation therefor."
Plaintiff Type(s):
Public Interest Lawyer: Yes
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: Yes
Class Action Outcome: Pending
Defendants
State
Tennessee Department of Corrections
Defendant Type(s):
Facility Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Declaratory Judgment Act, 28 U.S.C. § 2201
Constitutional Clause(s):
Other Dockets:
Middle District of Tennessee 3:26-cv-00367
Available Documents:
Outcome
Relief Sought:
Case Summary of Shoemaker v. Strada, Civil Rights Litig. Clearinghouse, https://clearinghouse.net/case/48060/ (last updated 4/7/2026).