Jackson is a city of about 63,000 residents in western Tennessee, situated along Interstate 40.  Residents, neighborhood organizations, and law enforcement have identified prostitution as a substantial problem in the city, and sex trafficking has occurred in the city. For example, in December, 2018, a man received a 20-year sentence and will have to pay more than $30,000 in fines for convictions of sex trafficking and promoting prostitution.  A grand jury found the man guilty of one count of trafficking for a commercial sex act and two counts of promoting prostitution. e had been arrested in Jackson in October 2017 after two women came forward claiming that he was forcing them into prostitution. The judge found the defendant to have used the women as prostitutes for his benefit, collecting any money they received for performing sexual acts.

To address consumer level demand driving the prostitution market, the Jackson Police Department has conducted periodic street-level reverse stings since at least 2007, if not earlier. The identities of arrested sex buyers have been released to the media, and arrestees have been required to perform community service. In June 2015, media outlets reported that at least two male sex buyers had been arrested during a web-based reverse sting in Jackson. The men reportedly arranged to meet with a female undercover officer at a Jackson hotel in January 2015, and “provided money for sex when [they] arrived.” Both allegedly engaged the decoy through a website known for prostitution, during a joint “operation targeting prostitution sales” by the JPD, Madison County Sheriff’s Office and the Tennessee Internet Crimes against Children Task Force. Their names and arrest photos were publicized in press. In August, 2019, the JPD conducted a web-based reverse sting that resulted in the arrest of at least six sex buyers.  The names and other identifiers of the arrested men were included in press releases.  In August, 2021, eleven men were arrested and charged with seeking sex from minors after an undercover operation in Jackson. The two-day human trafficking investigation placed decoy ads on websites that the TBI said were known to be linked to prostitution and commercial sex cases; the focus of the operation was to identify those seeking to engage in commercial sex acts with minors and recover potential victims of human trafficking. The 11 men were booked into the Madison County or Chester County Jail.