Matkin is also the inmate who filed a class action lawsuit against the county alleging overcrowding and poor conditions in the jail.

He was charged with second-degree murder in the March 2004 drowning death of his stepfather, Bill Zelm, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser offense.

Authorities found Zelm's body floating in a fish pond outside his home after Matkin called 911.

Matkin first told police his stepfather's death was an accident, but during the trial he said he had struggled with Zelm after the two argued.

He said the older man was actually on top of him and was attempting to hold him under the water, and that he pulled Zelm into the water with him in an attempt to make him let go.

District Attorney Al Schmutzer said the evidence didn't support that story either, noting Zelm's injuries indicated he had been held face down in the pool while someone sat on top of him.

Matkin's suit against the county includes allegations of overcrowding, unsanitary conditions and denial of medical care and access to a law library to prepare for his defense.

In a written answer to his overcrowding suit filed in the U.S. district court in Knoxville, the county denies most specific allegations of problems within the jail, and notes plans were already in motion to expand the jail when the suit was filed.

"It is averred that plaintiff John Matkin is in solitary confinement and, as such, any issue with regard to overcrowding does not affect him," the written answer stated.

"These defendants would assert that the allegations of overcrowding, if any there be, is moot," it adds. "The Sevier Count Jail has appropriated funds for a new jail and work is to begin shortly on that facility."

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