Public safety should be a top priority for Tennessee, along with proper treatment of law enforcement and of taxpayers. We must incentivize rehabilitation.

• Matthew Charles, of Nashville, is a criminal justice expert and Senior Policy Advisor of FAMM.

When our state lawmakers propose laws that aim to be tough on crime, everyone deserves to know the facts about those laws – and what is and isn’t actually tough on crime. While it may seem that longer sentences behind Senate Bill 2044 contribute to public safety, the facts show a different story: This bill disincentivizes rehabilitation, making Tennessee prisons and our communities less safe. 

The unfortunate truth about SB 2044 is that it will spur the consequences that excessive sentencing laws are known to create: bloated public spending, wasted law enforcement resources, and higher recidivism rates.

Legislation like SB 2044 do not make Tennessee safer. Rather than addressing the causes of crime or improving the ability to close cases, this bill simply disincentivizes rehabilitation in Tennessee prisons. Tennessee’s earned time credits – and their opportunity to shorten a sentence for eligible people – serve as a vital incentive for incarcerated people to improve their behavior and learn from educational, vocational, and rehabilitative programs, which help the Department of Corrections and improve public safety by encouraging incarcerated people to change their lives. 

Public safety is at risk when incentives are weakened

Earned time credits are redirected away from the expiration of a person’s sentence, and instead apply to the person’s parole eligibility date. This amounts to an empty incentive as Tennessee’s parole board denies nearly three-fourths of all applicants, and SB 2044 has given no guarantee for parole grants and no mechanisms for early termination of parole supervision. 

Simply put, weakening incentives is bad for public safety. When Arizona eliminated parole and earned time credits in 1993, prison rule violations increased by 50%, enrollment in educational programs dropped by 20%, and the reoffending rate jumped 4.8 percentage points. Tennessee’s prisons are currently severely understaffed. The last thing we should do make Tennessee prisons less safe and make life harder for those who live and work in them. 

For the roughly 25% of people who do get an earlier parole, they will still need to spend the remainder of their sentence under parole supervision. That means expending additional resources from Tennessee’s parole officers and numerous pitfalls for returning citizens to manage as they try to successfully reintegrate to their communities and the workforce.

Research shows that most reoffending occurs within the first two years of parole supervision — leaving periods of supervision beyond that more an hindrance than a meaningful public safety policy. Requiring someone who has shown a commitment to reentry and successful adherence to the rules should be able to earn their way off of supervision. SB 2044 prevents that. 

More: Incarcerated men find ‘new beginning’ at Tennessee prison’s first addiction program

Tennessee lawmakers knew this bill would cost a lot in the future

SB 2044 is especially tough on taxpayers. Outside of Medicaid, incarceration costs have been the second-fastest growing budget item for most states in recent years, and this bill adds to those costs.

The fiscal note for this bill indicates “significant increases in state expenditures to accommodate longer incarceration times and parolees being supervised for longer periods of time.” The Fiscal Review Committee reiterated the substantial cost at the Senate Finance, Ways, and Means Committee Hearing last month.  

While the exact future cost from this bill is unknown, it amounts to a signed invoice to taxpayers to fund something that will have enormous cost and will negatively impact Tennessee prisons with no proven benefit to public safety.

Public safety should be a top priority for Tennessee, along with proper treatment of law enforcement and of taxpayers. We must incentivize rehabilitation. While SB 2044 aims to provide public benefit, it fails to meet the mark. 

Matthew Charles, of Nashville, is a criminal justice expert and Senior Policy Advisor of FAMM.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Back in March, a young angler caught an alligator on Norris Lake.

Previous Coverage: Alligator caught on Norris Lake in Union County

In the days that followed, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency’s Matt Cameron said it was likely brought into the state illegally.

“Someone brought it from another state and turned it loose in Norris Lake,” Cameron said.

Previous Coverage: An alligator was caught on Norris Lake— what do Tennessee wildlife officers have to say?

Cameron also said it’s illegal to own or bring an alligator into Tennessee, calling it an invasive species. He said Tennessee isn’t a good place for alligators to be.

“East Tennessee is not a good alligator habitat,” Cameron said. “They like swampy areas, warmer climates. Here in Tennessee, the winters get extremely cold and they don’t prefer deep-water lakes.”

After the alligator was caught, it was taken to Little Ponderosa Zoo and Rescue in Anderson County.

Little Ponderosa said on social media that after hundreds of calls, the zoo’s assistant manager, Abby, spoke to Jungle Adventures in Christmas, Florida.

Despite being nearly 700 miles away, Abby drove the alligator, now known as “Tennessee,” all the way to Florida to give him a new home.

“He will now spend his days lounging in the sun, with lots of other alligators his same size/age,” the zoo said.

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COLUMBIA, Tenn. — A Tennessee community college professor who was swept away by an ocean wave during a study-abroad trip in Brazil has died, his school said Monday.

Clifford Gordon, associate professor of art, was walking with three students along an oceanside road in Paraty, Brazil, when they stopped to take pictures and a wave struck them, according to Columbia State Community College. The three students were not seriously injured, but Gordon was swept away and Brazilian authorities searched for him, the school said.

Columbia State received confirmation on Monday morning that Gordon’s body was found and positively identified.

“We were heartbroken to hear of this tragic accident,” Janet F. Smith, Columbia State’s president, said in a statement on the school’s website. “We are thankful that no students were seriously injured. Our college family mourns the loss of Clifford, who was a talented artist and greatly loved by his students.”

The school said the study abroad program in Brazil included 12 students from four community colleges across Tennessee.

The students were scheduled to board flights Monday and arrive back in Tennessee on Tuesday, Rick Locker, a spokesperson for the College System of Tennessee, said. They will be offered counseling.

Two of the students who were with Gordon when he was swept away are from Pellissippi State Community College in Knoxville, while the other attends Walters State Community College in Morristown.

Gordon started working for Columbia State in 2008 as an adjunct professor and then moved to a full-time position in 2013. He also was known for works of collage and painting, which were on display at various exhibitions in the state.

Gordon had traveled to Brazil during many summers, even teaching himself to speak Portuguese, the school said. He had a Bachelor of Science degree in art from Tennessee State University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in studio art from the Memphis College of Art.

Paraty is located about 150 miles (241 kilometers) west of the city of Rio de Janeiro.