Largest U.S. private prison operator faces lawsuit after inmate was killed a day before his release

Matthew Vogel was finishing up a six-month stint at the South Central Correctional Facility in Clifton, Tennessee, for a parole violation when he was allegedly beaten to death by a cellmate who was serving three life sentences for murder.

Vogel's cellmate is accused of bludgeoning him with a drainage cover before stabbing him with a shard of glass from a broken television, killing the 39-year-old one day before his scheduled release in August 2024. And according to a lawsuit filed earlier this year, Vogel's family claims cost-cutting and understaffing at the prison allowed it to happen. Vogel's family brought its case against CoreCivic, which operates the prison where Vogel died and is the largest private, for-profit prison firm in the nation.

Vogel "had a big heart, very emotional," his mother, Maria Googe, said in an interview with CBS News.