Guest house offers hope, community for inmates’ families

Key points:

• A nondescript home in a residential area of Nashville, Tennessee, is a special place for the families and friends of those incarcerated at nearby state prisons.
• The Family Reconciliation Guest House offers free lodging for people who travel to Nashville to visit loved ones.
• Not having to pay for a hotel room helps alleviate some of the other burdens that prison visitors negotiate.

Life is a perpetual drive on the 200 miles of Interstate 40 between Sevierville and Nashville for the supporters of death row inmate Gary Wayne Sutton, who is scheduled to be executed on Dec. 3.

When picking up Sutton’s daughter in Alabama, it drags the drive out even more.

“I work until five or six o’clock in the afternoon, drive to Alabama to pick up Gary’s daughter, drive back to Sevierville late that night, get up early and drive to Nashville to let her see Gary,” said Diane Sutton, Gary Sutton’s sister-in-law.

Many aspects of visiting someone on death row are difficult, said Carolyn Weaver, who was romantically involved with Gary Sutton before his incarceration, and today considers him her best friend.

“It’s not just them that’s getting punished,” Weaver said. “The family is getting punished. That’s exactly what it feels like.”

In Middle Tennessee, the Family Reconciliation Guest House makes visiting inmates a bit easier for families. Since 2015, the house, located near three Tennessee state prisons — Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center (formerly the Tennessee Prison for Women) and the Lois M. DeBerry Special Needs Facility — has offered free overnight stays for those in town to visit incarcerated loved ones.

“When I’m (at the Family Reconciliation Guest House), I feel like I’m closer to (Gary Sutton),” said Amy King, his niece. “I know that sounds crazy, but I do.”

Gary Sutton was convicted in 1996 along with his uncle, James Dellinger, of the shooting death of Sutton’s friend Tommy Griffin. Three years earlier, he and Dellinger were convicted in the death of Griffin’s sister, Connie Branam. Dellinger died in prison in 2023; he and Gary Sutton were sentenced to death in the Griffin case.

Gary Sutton’s supporters, who believe he’s innocent, have been working to save his life for two decades. He has a large contingent of family and friends who visit often.

Stacey Hagewood and attorney Mike Engle are United Methodists and members of the Family Reconciliation Guest House board of directors. The nonprofit guest house has received grants from West End United Methodist and Belmont United Methodist churches in Nashville and Christ United Methodist Church in Franklin, Tennessee, along with support from other communities of faith.

“A lot of these family members are hardworking folks who may not have a lot of extra money to spend,” Hagewood said. “Here, they’re close by (the prisons), so if they get to visit multiple times, it’s easy to get back and forth.”

And again, it’s free. A hotel room in a tourism area such as Nashville can be expensive. Rooms in the cheaper hotel chains can cost $150 a night, depending on what’s going on in Nashville at any given time, Hagewood said.

“It (also) costs them a lot to spend on the gas and to have a dependable car to drive here,” she added. Hagewood is the production team lead for United Methodist Communications, which oversees the work of UM News.

In a study published in 2020 by Criminal Justice Policy Review, three reseachers at the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida State University found that state inmates who received frequent visits were less likely to commit crimes after they are released.

Engle, who has represented hundreds of prisoners in Tennessee, said that result and other such studies ring true to him.

“Family involvement, even after the first arrest and before the trial … just makes a significant difference,” he said. “I think a lot of us would like … to realize that we hadn’t been abandoned.”

Feeling deserted by the outside world “also hinders the development of any kind of effective rehabilitation plans,” Engle said.

Some inmates actually avoid being released because they don’t feel they have enough support on the outside, he added.

Weaver visits Gary Sutton every weekend, and having a safe, comfortable and free place to stay makes things easier.

“I’m a nurse,” she said. “I come here on the weekends. I just work and come here.”

The Family Reconciliation Guest House blends in with the other homes in a residential area in Nashville. It is homey, with a kitchen table and couches where people congregate and five bedrooms for guests. There is art on the walls, some of it by prisoners including Gary Sutton.

“Hospitality is important,” Hagewood said. “We provide a community meal, snacks, a community pantry and fridge.

“There’s usually a Saturday night meal that is organized by someone, and I think it provides a feeling of safety and feeling at home and feeling peaceful.”

Before she discovered the Family Reconciliation Guest House six years ago, getting to Nashville and finding a place to stay was a major stress in her life, Weaver said.

“It is a big stress reliever being here and knowing that you can come here and you’re welcome here and you’re going to be safe while you’re here,” Weaver said.

Patterson is a reporter at UM News. Contact him at newsdesk@umnews.org. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.