TN Parole Budget May Get Boost
Most Tennessee state offices are seeing their budgets slashed this year, but the proposed budget for the Board of Probation and Parole will increase by almost 5 percent if passed. Reported by the Jackson Sun.
The increase includes funds that expand the capacity of the board to deal with parolees and probationers. The increased expenditures are necessary to save money for the Department of Correction and allow that department to meet budget cuts, according to some state officials. Board of Probation and Parole spokeswoman Melissa McDonald declined to answer questions about specific changes last week. She said the department prefers to wait until the budget is approved and the funds finalized before discussing the planned changes.
The Board of Probation and Parole’s proposed budget increases include $3.3 million for the global positioning system sex offender tracking program; $126,300 for an updated risk and needs assessment of offenders; $105,000 for increased drug testing; $315,000 for electronic monitoring; $3.1 million for a treatment services network; $1 million for 30 additional probation and parole officers; $635,900 to increase the community corrections grant program by 20 percent; and $112,500 to fund five probation and parole officers to supervise offenders at correction release centers.
Department of Correction Commissioner George Little addressed the joint Corrections Oversight Committee in April, when he talked about some of the proposed changes for the Board of Probation and Parole. The program would change the way the state manages its parole and probation by working with technical violators and would increase money for programs for people released from prison, Little said. “We decided to look at ways of managing the offender population,” Little said. “We looked at the individual offender level and their risks and needs before and after incarceration.” A technical violator is someone who has not paid fees, failed a drug test or could not find adequate housing, Little said. The state would work with these violators to address their problems rather than put them back into prison, Little said.
Another part of the proposed plan would be to return inmates to local prisons up to a year before they were eligible for parole, Little said. “If they are closer to home, they can hook up with a job or hook up with family,” Little said. “They will have a better chance of success at release … This is not an early release, but a management of offenders,” he said. “In the past, we have not exhausted all the options. This will give us a great toolbox.”
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