Tennessee may extend prison sentences

A task force appointed by Gov. Bill Haslam to look at prison sentencing is considering recommendations for longer prison terms.

The enhanced penalties under consideration would boost the prison population in Tennessee by 4 percent over a five-year period, according to a report by Vera Institute of Justice. The discussion is occurring as the state already has prisons at capacity, is struggling to control incarceration costs and is dealing with a shortage of correctional officers.

It is also being considered as Corrections Corporation of America expands its footprint in Tennessee.

Longer sentences would be unwise and fall short of the goals the governor set for the task force, said Dawn Deaner, the Metropolitan public defender for Nashville-Davidson County.

“Not only will it not likely improve public safety, but it will increase our prison population when other states elsewhere are really looking at how they can try to reduce their prison populations,” Deaner said.

The Governor’s Task Force on Sentencing and Recidivism, which has been at work for a year, has not kept any official records of its decision-making process even though it could make its recommendations as early as next month. Nor were the meetings webcast and archived, said Jennifer Donnals, communications director for the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security.

“Most of the meetings have consisted of breakout sessions of different working groups focused on various issues,” Donnals said. “The task force has not yet submitted its recommendations to the Public Safety Subcabinet, but that should happen within the next few weeks.”

The next meeting of the task force is scheduled for Aug. 6.

The Tennessean obtained a copy of the Vera Institute of Justice report, a 32-page document that provides analyses of the enhanced penalties under consideration. Those penalties would require someone convicted three times or more of aggravated burglary and of drug trafficking to serve 85 percent of the prison term handed down by a judge, according to the Vera Institute report.

RELATED: Vera Institute Report for Governor's Task Force on Sentencing and Recidivism

Haslam announced last August that the task force would receive assistance from the Vera Institute, but Donnals said the report “is an independent analysis prepared by the Vera Institute reflecting Vera’s opinions.” The nonpartisan research organization has decades of experience advising local and state governments on criminal justice issues.

Members of the task force did talk about the enhanced sentences during a May 8 meeting with the Tennessee District Public Defenders Conference. Deaner said only about a quarter of the state district public defenders were able to make it to the meeting, which occurred in Nashville on a weekday, when many had to be in their respective courts.

She shared a copy of a PowerPoint presented by the committee. The presentation did not spell out specifics about enhanced sentencing, but it did note the “need for increased transparency and certainty at the time of sentencing.”

“There was some discussion back when the governor formed this task force that there was only one public defender on the whole task force and no criminal defense lawyers,” Deaner said. “The task force consisted almost entirely of law enforcement folks.”

That report recommended ways the state could lower its prison population, such as increasing the felony threshold for a property crime from $500 to $1,000 and limiting incarceration for parole violations that are not new criminal offenses.

“Currently, more than 40 percent of TDOC admissions are due to revocation of probation or parole for reasons other than commission of a new felony offense,” the report stated.

It suggested graduated confinement sanctions as an alternative to sending convicts back to prison to serve full sentences because of parole violations. It also said the state should consider developing policies for the release of elderly prisoners at low risk for committing crimes again.

The report estimated that enhanced sentencing for the multiple convictions of drug trafficking would increase the prison population by 4 percent and enhanced sentencing for the multiple burglary convictions would increase it by 2 percent over a five-year period. However, Christine Herrman with the Vera Institute said the report had been updated with a revised estimate for enhanced burglary sentencing that indicates a negligible increase.

And Hermann said the projected 4 percent increase with drug trafficking convictions could be offset if the state adopts other recommendations in the report.

Both public and private prisons in the state are already at 98.6 percent capacity, according to the Tennessee Department of Correction. And the agency is projecting a 6,364 unmet bed demand by 2018 without the enhanced sentences figured in.

The Tennessee Department of Correction just closed the 760-bed Charles Bass Correctional Complex in Nashville, but Corrections Corporation of America is building a $140 million prison with 2,552 beds in Trousdale County, which will be the company’s fifth facility to house state inmates.

State prison systems are dealing with security force shortages since the Tennessee Department of Correction switched officers from a traditional 40-hour work week to a schedule with higher hurdles for overtime pay. Legislators have questioned the policy.

Tennessee House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, said he asked Correction Commissioner Derrick Schofield if changes within the agency were a “big attempt to privatize prisons” and the commissioner answered no.

The Department has entered into a six-year contract valued at $276.3 million for Trousdale County to house state prisoners at the facility CCA is building.

The Tennessee Private Prison Contracting Act limits the state to one private prison contract, but there is a way around that law. A county enters an agreement with CCA for a prison then the state pays the county to house the inmates.

“Technically, this arrangement may not violate the statute, but it is an end-run around the legislature’s attempt to limit the extent to which prisons are run by private companies,” said Christopher Slobogin, director of the criminal justice program at Vanderbilt Law School. “A profit motive may create an incentive to have more prisons and prisoners, which can ultimately cost the state more money. At the same time it may create an incentive to cut costs, which is not always the best thing for prisoners or for programs that might reduce their recidivism.”

Reach Tom Wilemon at 615-726-5961 and on Twitter @TomWilemon.

Next Meeting

The Governor’s Task Force on Sentencing and Recidivism may recommend longer sentences for multiple convictions of some crimes. The committee is nearing the end of its work.

When: 9 a.m., Aug. 6.

Where: Andrew Jackson Building Hearing Room, 500 Deadrick St., Nashville.