Tennessee
Tennessee ‘tough on crime’ bill will not make us safer and take away from rehabilitation
Public safety should be a top priority for Tennessee, along with proper treatment of law enforcement and of taxpayers. We must incentivize rehabilitation.
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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.
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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.
Storms are expected to roll through Middle Tennessee Monday morning into the afternoon.
A few storms could turn strong to severe with damaging wind as the main threat. The tornado risk remains very low.
Severe weather threats for Monday, June 1, 2026. (WZTV)
Some storms will bring heavy rain that could cause localized flooding. A second wave of storms is possible later in the day with similar threats.
A large portion of Middle Tennessee was upgraded to a slight risk, Level 2/5, for severe weather. The severe threat ends shortly before sunset Monday.
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The middle of the week looks much nicer with temperatures in the low 80s and lower humidity.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Tennessee softball’s opponent for the Women’s College World Series semifinals is set.
The No. 7 seed Lady Volunteers (49-10) will face No. 2 Texas (49-12) at Devon Park on June 1 (noon ET, ESPN). Tennessee and Texas played each other in their WCWS opener on May 28. Tennessee won 6-3.
In the previous matchup, Tennessee used both of its top two pitchers, Karlyn Pickens (15-7, 1.58 ERA) and Sage Mardjetko (16-2, 1.06 ERA). Mardjetko started and allowed just one hit in the first four innings. Pickens finished the game, allowing four hits and three runs but still recording the save.
“Knowing we’ve got to make quicker adjustments, we’ve seen them already,” Texas infielder Katie Stewart said of potentially facing Pickens and Mardjetko again. “Still knowing they’re a really good pitching staff and they’re going to bring it. Just being ready for that. I think just going back, watching film, looking at how we got out and building off that.”
Stewart, the SEC Player of the Year and Texas’ leader in batting average, home runs and RBIs, went 0-for-3 in that first game.
Texas coach Mike White is hopeful that the Longhorns’ familiarity with Pickens and Mardjetko from just a few days prior will help them “pick up where they left off.”
All three of Texas’ runs came in the later part of the game, with the Longhorns scoring off a throwing error and a two-run homer hit by Leighann Goode.
However, he also noted that Tennessee has another talented pitcher in Erin Nuwer (15-1, 0.99 ERA), whom the Longhorns could face for the first time.
“Well, it won’t help us if they throw Nuwer at us,” White said. “They have another one that’s out there that’s pretty good. We’re not forgetting her as well.”
Nuwer hasn’t pitched since Game 2 of the super regionals against Georgia, when she allowed two hits, two hit-by-pitches but no runs in 1⅓ innings. Nuwer’s last start was a complete game against Northern Kentucky in regionals on May 15.
“They have the luxury of us having to beat them twice,” White said. “These pitchers are so good now, they’re able to study what we did, what they did. It becomes that cat-and-mouse game of strategy. That’s what we love about the game, is all the strategy, kind of pitching nuances of the game. It’s going to be a fun matchup.”
Tia Reid covers Jackson State sports for the Clarion Ledger. Email her at treid@usatodayco.com and follow her on X @tiareid65.
Tennessee
Nashville’s Eastpoint Neighborhood groundbreaking marks largest affordable housing project in Tennessee
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Nashville’s newest neighborhood is starting to take shape. The Fallon Company broke ground on the Eastpoint Neighborhood, which developers say is the largest affordable housing project and investment in Tennessee right now.
Mayor Freddie O’Connell says the mixed-use development is designed to benefit all families, accommodating incomes from $20,000 to $80,000 a year. In addition to housing, the development will include upgraded parks and green space, on-site childcare, and retail space.
“This is gonna be how we build Nashville’s next great neighborhood,” O’Connell said.
“We’ll have upgraded parks and green space, it will literally have on-site childcare here,” O’Connell said. “Basically all the ingredients that happen in a great neighborhood are going to be here.”
The development comes as many Nashville families struggle to make ends meet.
“They’re working jobs that are $10, $12 an hour jobs and they cannot afford basic living expenses,” Tony Turntine said.
Turntine and his family are success stories of UpRise Nashville’s free career training program. Through that experience, he has seen firsthand how getting to a better life requires studying, working, mentorship — and help with housing.
“The affordable housing that gives them an opportunity to come out of some of the really lower income neighborhoods they’ve been in and have better, quieter, more wholesome places to live,” Turntine said.
“If people can afford a better opportunity, we see everyone blossom from it. It’s a great day,” Al Brady with UpRise said.
Turntine says the tough choices Nashville families face are real.
“Whether I’m gonna pay the car out or whether I’m gonna get food for the kids,” Turntine said.
Now living and thriving in a new opportunity, Turntine has made it his mission to help others get there too.
“We’re living in a better neighborhood now — we actually just moved last weekend to a house twice the house of what we were in before,” Turntine said. “When you make different choices in life, that gives you different opportunities.”
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at Amanda.Roberts@NewsChannel5.com
This story was reported on-air by Amanda Roberts and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
101st Airborne veterans get Purple Hearts years after an insider attack
As we honor those who have served our country and made the ultimate sacrifice, it is also heartening to see the military right a wrong. Chris Davis brings us the moving story of a Purple Heart ceremony two decades in the making. It’s worth a watch.
A heartfelt thanks to all who bravely serve.
– Carrie Sharp
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