State Task Force’s Ideas On Prison Sentencing Disappoint Some In Tennessee

Those wanting Tennessee to reduce its prison population say they are disappointed with some of the ideas emerging from a task force picked by Gov. Bill Haslam.

They say the task force is discussing proposals that could lead to more prison time for many felons.

After nearly a year, the Governor’s Task Force on Sentencing and Recidivism appears to be completing its work and preparing to deliver recommendations for Haslam. The group was formed after other states started cutting the penalties for minor drug offenses and other low-level felonies, and it was given the job of coming up with sentences that would cut crime and lower repeat offenses.

State officials won’t talk about the task force’s work, but a report obtained by The Tennessean includes longer sentences for three crimes: aggravated burglary, domestic violence and drug trafficking.

“I just don’t know how well they hit that mark with some of these recommendations,” says Metro Public Defender Dawn Deaner.

Deaner says harder drug trafficking sentences could be particularly problematic, because they wouldn’t just hit dealers. Routine addicts would also get more prison time.

“You can get a fairly serious drug sale case for selling a very small amount of drugs,” she says.

The New York-based Vera Institute of Justice is advising the task force, and it agrees. The group also favors reducing incarceration rates, and it says in the report that tougher drug sentences would do little to reduce crime.

“Longer prison sentences have diminishing returns,” the group says, “as many offenders age out of their criminal behavior before their sentences are completed.”

Other proposals under consideration are encouraging says Kerry Hayes, an adviser to the Memphis-based group Just City. It also favors reducing sentencing.

Among other ideas, the task force is discussing setting up more transitional programs for ex-convicts, creating more courts focused on treatment and helping people stick with their parole, rather than just throwing them back in jail for violations.

“It does seem like there’s some divergent viewpoints or ideologies at work here,” says Hayes. “There were some things that I saw that I think were very commendable.”

Whether it all adds up to more or less prison time in Tennessee depends on how the final proposals interact, says Deaner.

That should become clear in a couple of weeks, when the task force meets again and could finalize a plan for Governor Haslam.