Felons released from Tennessee prisons are now less likely to return to custody, a recent study showed. In its latest study on recidivism, the Tennessee Department of Correction reports that the return rate for ex-felons dropped 3 percentage points. For 2005, the recidivism rate stood at 39 percent for offenders who had been out of prison for three years. Reported in the Jackson Sun.

While there is no recognized national average for recidivism, TDOC officials say return rates range as high as 65 percent for individual states.

The study also showed the state is maintaining extremely low return rates for felons convicted of violent crimes such as murder, rape and assault.

“While any return of such serious offenders is undesirable, the consistent ability of the TDOC to achieve these low return rates is noteworthy,” said Correction Commissioner Gayle Ray.

TDOC spokeswoman Dorinda Carter said a systemwide comparison of felon return rates on the basis of race revealed black return rates to be lower than those of whites. The average return rate for blacks three years after release is 19.5 percent, while the average for whites is 20.6 percent.

“The lower recidivism rates show that rehabilitation efforts which include evidence-based programming are working and must continue,” Ray said.

A report released last year by the Pew Center on the States shows that one in 31 adults in America is imprisoned or jailed, or on probation or parole. In Tennessee, it’s about one in 40.

The report suggested states make a greater effort to prevent those on probation or parole from returning to prison and to strengthen their “community corrections systems.”

Tennessee correction officials planned to revoke fewer probations through diversion programs, including those for “technical parole violators” — probationers or parolees who may get in trouble for minor offenses such as driving on a suspended license or missing a counseling session.

As part of the initiative, the state tries to identify factors that indicate whether offenders would be more likely to violate probation or parole — from substance abuse to mental health and medical issues.

When the indicators show that an offender is at high risk, the state planned to offer help through a network of social workers.

Tennessee has 14 prisons. Eleven are operated by the state, and the remaining three are run by Nashville-based Corrections Corporation of America.

In 1983, the state’s prisons were placed under federal court supervision because of a lawsuit over overcrowding. The state was released in 1993.

jchev Recidivism, Tennessee

Shrinking revenues from federal prisoners in the jail will be one of the budget challenges facing Blount County in the coming fiscal years. Still, county officials expect to hold property taxes at current levels in the next budget. Reported in the Daily Times.

When the commissioners shelved a proposal to build a new jail pod back in January, time began running out on a source of revenue the county has depended upon for years to subsidize jail expenses — the housing of federal prisoners.

Having already lost state certification of the jail because of overcrowding, Sheriff James Berrong made the only choice left to him, reducing the population of federal prisoners by roughly half.

“This time last year, we had about 180 federal inmates that were generating revenue for the county,” he said, adding the jail now housed about 91. “That’s going to impact the revenue the county has. … We’re talking about a lot of money, around $5,000 a day.”

The daily rate that the U.S. Marshals Service pays to house federal inmates in the Blount County Jail is $58.50 per inmate. Depending on whom you ask, the sheriff or County Finance Director Dave Bennett, revenue from housing federal prisoners during the current fiscal year will be about $1.5 to $2 million less than previous years, but, because the county had already built in reduced revenue estimates in the budget, the actual shortfall will only be about $500,000.

“We’ll have more than enough turnback to cover that,” Bennett said. “On next year’s budget, we’ll have to bump that (revenue) number down. I don’t feel like we need to go in and reduce the budget because we can manage that from an administrative standpoint and make sure the bottom line is not a negative.”

Slashing the number of federal prisoners housed locally has resulted in the jail being recertified by the state.

On Nov. 30, 2008, there were 443 prisoners housed in the jail — 164 federal, 66 state and 213 local. About half of the state prisoners were supposed to be in state custody but there were no available beds in state prisons. The jail is only certified for 350.

On Nov. 17, 2009, there were 380, 91 being federal inmates. About 40 were state prisoners. Although this still technically exceeds the population cap in the jail, the state allows a loophole.

“The state inmates don’t count against our bed count, so if we have 40 Tennessee Department of Corrections inmates (out of 390), for their purposes, we only have 350 inmates,” Berrong said. “They can’t leave their inmates there and use that as a tool to decertify us.”

The number of state prisoners in the jail is also declining, although Berrong said housing them is a net loss for the county and that the reduction in numbers would not hurt county revenues. The state only pays counties $35 per inmate per day to house its prisoners.

jchev Budgets, Federal Payments, TN Blount County

Henry County Sheriff Monte Belew reported that during the month of September an average of 193 prisoners were housed in the Henry County jail each day. Seventy-four of these prisoners were state prisoners generating $78,190 in revenue from the State of Tennessee to the Henry County general fund. As reported in The Paris Post-Intelligencer.

The inmate commissary generated $1,942.72 in revenue, inmate receivables generated $3,104.13 in revenue and inmate telephone commission generated $5,204.93 in revenue to the general fund for the month.

Sheriff’s officers served 934 criminal and civil papers. Twenty-five arrests and citations were issued for driving violations. Three motorists were charged with driving under the influence and 12 persons were charged with revoked or suspended licenses. Two vehicles were seized because of the driver driving while intoxicated or on a revoked license. The Metro Crime Unit and Henry County Sheriff’s Department made 25 drug arrests and seized $240 cash and one vehicle.

Deputy cruisers traveled 54,106 miles while on patrol, transporting prisoners to state institutions and juveniles to detention facilities, answering citizen complaints, serving criminal and civil papers and performing other office functions.

During the month, 845 businesses, schools and residences were checked. Deputies found one door left open accidentally.

The Criminal Investigation Division opened 54 cases. Nineteen cases were suspended, 21 were closed and 12 were arrested.

The Henry County High School resource officer made two misdemeanor arrests and citations, two reports and 14 complaints. Twenty-six requests for counseling were made. The officer attended four after-school events.

The Grove School resource officer filed seven complaints and made eight requests for counseling. The officer attended nine after-school events.

The DARE/school resource officer made one misdemeanor arrest and citations, two reports and four complaints. Fourteen requests for counseling were made. The officer attended five after-school events and taught 14 DARE classes and five DARE safety classes.

The final grand totals for the produce gathered from the three inmate work farms were figured. During the garden season a total of 3,200 pounds of squash, 337 pounds of cucumbers, 3,938 pounds of cabbage, 8,017 pounds of tomatoes, 1,532 pounds of peppers, 1,300 pounds of okra, and 3,706 pounds of purple hull peas and October beans were gathered.

jchev Henry County

The Tennessee Department of Corrections has been asked by Governor Phil Bredesen to cut nine percent, or more than $50 million from its annual budget. Reported by WVLT-TV.

To do so, officials with the department said they’ll likely have to release around 4,000 convicted felons early from their inmate ranks.

“This isn’t scare tactics,” said George Little, commissioner of the Department of Corrections. “This is sort of the tab coming home, and we are going to have to figure out how we are going to make ends meet.”

Gov. Bredesen grilled Commissioner Little on the plan in order to guarantee the state took a serious look at who it let out before they restore their freedom. .

“You are saying those people would be A, non-violent and B, people who are coming to the end of their sentence periods or somethings like that,” asked Gov. Bredesen.

“Yes sir,” replied Little.

Unfortunately the cuts might not end there. Before all is said and done, the state may have to close down one or two prisons.

Most of Tennessee’s 14 state prisons were built within the last 20 years. Two of them are owned privately. Presumably, the oldest prisons would be the facilities most likely to close if needed.

The oldest prisons in the state are as follows:

• Northwest Correctional Complex Annex, Roan Mountain – built in 1986
• Southeastern Tennessee State Regional Correctional Facility, Pikeville – built in 1980
• Charles B. Bass Correctional Complex, Nashville – Main was built in 1979, Annex was built in 1946
• Mark H. Luttrell Correctional Center, Memphis – built in 1976
• Turney Center Industrial Complex, Only and Clifton – Main was built in 1971, Annex was built in 1985

jchev Budgets, Early Release, Tennessee

States trying to fight recession by closing prisons are finding a Catch-22: what saves scarce money costs precious jobs.  Reported by USA Today.

New Hampshire, Tennessee and Kansas are among states that have closed prisons this year as they struggle to balance budgets. In 2008, states spent about $47 billion from general funds on corrections, four times as much as in 1988, according to the Pew Center on the States. Nearly 90% of corrections budgets were spent on prisons, as opposed to probation, parole or other programs.

States are closing prisons by moving inmates, reducing their numbers through increased use of electronic monitoring, boosting support for offenders on probation and declining to return them to prison for every probation violation. That’s been controversial: “Inmates are getting released that wouldn’t have been released in good budget times,” says Tom Tylutki, president of the corrections officers’ union in Michigan, where eight facilities are scheduled to close. “We believe (public safety) is being compromised.”

Towns that have relied on prison jobs for years now find the local economy jeopardized.

• In Michigan, plans to close three prisons and five prison camps will cost 1,000 jobs, including in the tiny town of Standish, where a 19-year-old maximum security prison is the county’s largest employer. If Standish shuts down on Oct. 1 as scheduled, “it will be catastrophic, there is no doubt,” for the town of about 1,800 people, says the Rev. James Fitzpatrick, who organized a rally and prayer vigil to protest the prison’s closing.

• In Vermont, cost-cutting plans to close a 122-bed prison in St. Johnsbury, in the thinly populated northeastern corner of the state, were shelved by the Legislature over concerns about the loss of jobs. The state had planned to send prisoners out of state at a savings of $2 million.

• In New York, three prison camps and seven prison annexes, all located in the northern part of the state, are to close this year, saving the state an estimated $52 million over two years. About 550 jobs will be lost in a region that has long relied on prisons as a major employer. Camp Gabriels, in Franklin, N.Y., provided jobs for three of Mary Ellen Keith’s sons, a daughter and granddaughter until it closed this year. Inmates also cleared the rural town’s roadsides of brush, something the town can’t afford to do. “Up here, there’s absolutely no industry or anything,” says Keith, Franklin’s town supervisor. Without the prisons as employers, her family “probably would never have been able to remain in this area,” she says. “It’s a hardship.”

jakking Economic Issues, Kansas, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Tennessee, Vermont

The national recession is taking its toll on what had been one of the fastest-growing areas of state government spending: prisons. Even though state corrections budgets have ballooned in the past two decades amid a surging U.S. prison population, at least 23 states slashed funding for prisons this year, according to a new survey by the nonpartisan Vera Institute of Justice, a research organization based in New York. Thirty-three states responded to the survey, paid for by The Pew Charitable Trusts.  This story is from the Pew publication, Stateline.Org.

A $1 billion cost-cutting plan announced last week by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) will translate into layoffs for more than a thousand state prison workers. In Oregon, a voter-approved plan to hand longer prison sentences to those who commit property crimes was delayed by state lawmakers who said they could not pay for it. Tennessee’s department of corrections has sought to save money by offering inmates less milk and meat in their daily meals. And in Kansas — which has received national attention in recent years for shifting resources from locking up prisoners to rehabilitating them — the state eliminated 85 percent of the slots in its substance-abuse treatment program for inmates, citing budget constraints.

Six states — Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska and Washington — cut funding for corrections by more than 10 percent from last year’s levels, according to the study. Kansas saw the biggest recorded decrease, spending 22 percent less than it did last year.

Corrections is the fifth-largest area of state spending after Medicaid, secondary education, higher education and transportation. State spending on prisons has swelled as the nation’s jail and prison population has climbed to 2.3 million people, or about one in every 100 adults. But grim budget realities are forcing state lawmakers’ hand.

According to the Vera survey, many states are wringing savings from their correctional systems by trying to reduce the huge operational costs of running prisons — including by laying off workers, freezing their wages or cutting services to inmates. They also are exploring new ways to reduce recidivism and achieve long-term savings, in some cases easing sanctions on “technical violators” who break conditions of their parole and frequently are sent back to prison. Some states, including Colorado and Oregon, are allowing more prisoners to reduce their prison sentences through “earned-time credits” for good behavior and other forms of early release.

Some of the cost-cutting moves — using videoconferencing to avoid physically transporting inmates for court appearances, for example, and cutting back on inmates’ meal offerings — have targeted the basics of daily prison life and reaped relatively modest savings. But other changes will save tens of millions of dollars and have not come without political fights.

According to Stateline.org’s annual review of states’ legislative sessions, at least seven states — Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Washington — this year decided to close prisons. In some states, those plans touched off resistance among prison unions and in hard-hit communities anxious about losing even more jobs.   New York’s prison workers’ union earlier this year accused the administration of Gov. David Paterson (D) of creating “the most dangerous conditions ever” for correctional officers by closing 10 prisons and packing inmates into other facilities. In Michigan, which has the nation’s highest unemployment rate, Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) is trying to avoid closing some prisons — and laying off prison guards — by accepting inmates from California’s teeming system. Some state officials have backed the idea of housing detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Early releases also have caused alarm, particularly in California, where a federal panel of three judges last week ordered the state to free more than 40,000 inmates — or about 27 percent of its prison population — within the next two years to ease dangerous overcrowding. Attorney General Jerry Brown (D), who is widely expected to run for governor next year, attacked the decision and could appeal it to the U.S. Supreme Court. The early release of thousands of inmates also is being considered in Illinois.   While some criminal justice advocates contend that early releases and other cost-cutting moves could endanger public safety, others say states have not gone far enough in cutting inmate numbers.

Some advocates say state lawmakers have avoided what they see as the “elephant in the room” — tough sentencing policies that have put many low-level offenders behind bars for longer and been a major factor behind the explosive growth in the nation’s prison population since the 1970s, when many of the laws were passed. The federal panel that ruled on California’s prison overcrowding cited sentencing laws as a factor behind the Golden State’s huge prison population.  While New York this year revised its drug sentencing laws to give judges more discretion to keep offenders out of jail, other high-profile sentencing changes in the states have been far more limited in their scope. Texas, for instance, eliminated life without parole for juveniles, a penalty that currently affects only seven inmates. New Mexico abolished capital punishment, but had only two men on death row when the bill was signed into law in March.

Washington state’s legislative session this year was “completely upside down in terms of criminal justice policy,” said state Rep. Roger Goodman (D), vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Goodman said lawmakers cut funding for the wrong programs — such as housing and other transitional services that can help ex-inmates stay out of trouble — and refused to make substantial changes to the sentencing policies that he said have put too many nonviolent and drug-addicted people in prison in the first place. Goodman explained lawmakers’ distaste for making sentencing changes this way: “There aren’t enough political points to be gained by taking this issue on. There are political points to be gained by attacking it.”

While broad changes to criminal sentencing laws remain a tough sell issue in many state capitols, corrections officials are pushing other, less controversial changes to reduce prison populations. Many states have made sick or dying inmates eligible for early parole. Other states, including Florida and Tennessee, have invested more heavily in drug treatment courts and community supervision programs in the hopes of keeping offenders from returning to prison.  “Changing sentences is a very difficult thing to do. And so we’ve gone around it,” Pennsylvania Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard said during an annual summit of state legislators in Philadelphia last month.

jakking Budgets, California, Colorado, Early Release, Economic Issues, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington

The Tennessee Department of Correction is reducing the prison population by 3,000 inmates in an effort to cut costs. TDOC officials said this will not be an early release program.  Report from News Channel 5.

They are targeting low risk inmates who are about to be paroled or already have been.  TDOC planned to spend more money on programs to stop parolees from reoffending and returning to prison.   “It saves us money, gives us a safer community and it frees up capacity for more serious offenders who need to be in prison,” said TDOC commissioner George Little.     A plan they hope will save the state $64 million in the long run by reducing the prison population by 3,000 inmates over the next two years.  “It’s not one of those programs where you’ll be releasing a lot of folks. No, it’s not that. So, when the inmates in the institutions hear about this and they start packing their tooth brushes they can forget it. It’s not that,” said Charles Traughber, Tenn. Board of Probation and Parole.  TDOC was focusing on parolees who are considered to be low risk and have the best chance of being good citizens.

The department of corrections was saving money in other ways. They are leaving 450 positions vacant and cutting back on inmate work crews that clean up roadsides.   TDOC officials said it costs taxpayers $62 a day to house an inmate.

jakking Community Corrections, Early Release, Economic Issues, Parole, Tennessee

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.”

jakking Community Corrections, Economic Issues, Parole, Re-Entry, Tennessee

In celebration of National Crime Victims’ Rights Week at the end of last month, the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole held tree-planting ceremonies in each of its districts.

BOPP Chairman Charles Traughber said victim issues are important to the Board and its support staff. “By holding offenders accountable for their actions, working to keep offenders from committing new crimes and helping victims navigate the parole process, BOPP assists victims in moving forward with their lives,” said Traughber. “Planting these trees is another way to remind victims that we empathize with their experiences, and are available to assist them with accessing the parole process.”

“BOPP’s Victim Services Unit assists victims who want a voice in the parole process,” said BOPP Executive Director Bo Irvin. “We have victim coordinators in each of our eight districts who work to make certain that victim input is part of parole consideration.”

jakking Tennessee

The Tennessee Senate has passed a bill sponsored by state Sen. Steve Southerland designed to help keep Tennessee jails from being decertified by the state over the issue of space requirements for inmates.  A similar bill introduced by state Rep. David Hawk, R-5th, of Greeneville, is pending in the State Government Subcommittee of the Tennessee House of Representatives.

The bill … specifies that the state standards for the square footage of cells in new or existing local correctional facilities must be the minimum federal standards required by the “Performance-Based Standards for Adult Local Detention Facilities” of the American Correctional Association (ACA).  ACA standards require that local jails provide 35 square feet per inmate. At present, though, local jails in Tennessee have to comply with the more stringent 50-square-feet-per-inmate standard required by the Tennessee Corrections Institute (TCI). The standard of 50 square feet per inmate for a single cell was adopted in 1982 by an advisory committee of the TCI …

If a local jail in Tennessee does not meet the TCI standards, the TCI can take away the jail’s state certification. Loss of state certification would leave the local government much more vulnerable to inmate lawsuits.  “This measure will make sure that local jails are not decertified, an action which could cost taxpayers millions of dollars,” Southerland said of his bill.

He added, “It also helps save money when new jails are built.  For example, where a 500-bed jail in Florida cost $32 million to build, the same facility in Tennessee would cost taxpayers $58 million under the current square footage requirements. Local counties could save as much as 30 percent on new facilities while still meeting minimum standards set by the ACA. I am pleased our state senate has adopted this bill.”

A great deal more detail, especially with regard to the legislation’s affect on Greene County can be found in the Greeneville Sun.

jakking County-State Issues, Jail and Prison Construction, Overcrowding, TN Greene County, Tennessee

After a little more than three years of construction, the new 65-acre Morgan County Correctional Complex is now housing inmates.  The prison replaces the historic Brushy Mountain Correctional Complex built in 1896.  This report from WBIR.

This new state prison is so large that officials are calling it four prisons for the price of one, and that price tag is steep. The facility cost $158 million to build.   “This is a very exciting day for the state of Tennessee. It’s a great day for the Department of Correction,” said Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner George Little.   The prison held an opening day ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday afternoon to mark the official start to a new era in Morgan County correction …

The complex has more than 2400 beds separated into 4 pods — maximum, medium, and minimum security, as well as a medical pod.  Though its new beds, toilets, walls, and even basketball courts put the facility at the top of the list of Tennessee prisons, it’s what the complex is doing for non-prisoners that makes it more special to the community.  “This is really a bright spot in terms of employment. The net increase is on the order of 250 to 300 jobs,” Commissioner Little said.

jakking Jail and Prison Construction, Tennessee

Housing a prisoner costs about $60 a day in Tennessee, so locking someone up for not paying $45 a month in probation fees doesn’t make sense, according to Tennessee’s corrections commissioner.

Allowing nonviolent inmates approved for parole to sit behind bars for days or weeks, racking up costs the state could cut in half if they immediately were placed in halfway houses also is counterproductive, Commissioner George Little said.  “We can figure out how to better manage those populations,” he said. “What I think it opens up is a discussion of who we are locking up, how long they are being locked up and do we have the right people in our prisons and jails.”  With the state’s budget crisis forcing $42 million in cuts to a corrections program that will receive almost no federal stimulus money, Mr. Little is championing an increased emphasis on community corrections programs such as halfway houses …

Rep. McCormick is a member of the House’s State and Local Government Committee, which has the bill. He said he doesn’t anticipate the legislation surviving if Gov. Bredesen doesn’t approve money for it.  “If it’s not already included in the governor’s budget, there is a very, very, very little chance it will pass,” Rep. McCormick said. “I’d have to vote against it. It’s not that it’s not a good cause, but there are a lot of good causes out there and, in this environment, it would be unfair to put that one at the top.”

There is a great deal more discussion at the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

jakking Community Corrections, Economic Issues, Tennessee

The financial crisis is forcing probation and parole agencies to reduce or drop prison time for thousands of offenders who violate conditions of their release. The changes, adopted by at least five states last year and under consideration in several others, worry some criminal justice analysts who warn loosening the rules might lead to more crime.  The USA Today reports:

“This needs to be done very, very carefully,” says Gene Voegtlin, legislative counsel for the International Association of Chiefs of Police. He sees the need for savings, he says, “but at what cost?”   Probation and parole violators account for up to two-thirds of prison admissions each year in some states. The cost of locking them up for technical violations, such as drug-test failures or missed meetings with officers, is straining local budgets.   “Although some violators must be returned to prison to protect public safety, states are looking at how they can get people out of prison without risking public safety,” says Alison Lawrence of the National Conference of State Legislatures …Among the policy changes:

• Kansas is allowing probation and parole officers to decide whether those who violate early release conditions for non-violent offenses should go back to prison.  “The response to every violation doesn’t have to be a revocation of parole or probation,” Kansas Department of Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz says. The initiative has helped cut probation revocations by more than 20%.

• Tennessee Department of Corrections Commissioner George Little wants accelerated releases for probation and parole violators who are sent back to prison and complete drug-abuse and other counseling programs. The program would cut their prison time from about 17 months to three months.

• Arizona lawmakers approved a 2008 measure that lets thousands of probationers end their terms early. The program accelerates the “good time” they can apply against their sentences, reducing the chances they could be sent to prison for condition violations.

jakking Arizona, Community Corrections, Economic Issues, Kansas, Parole, Tennessee

Prisons officials say the sluggish economy is affecting plans for new correctional facilities in Tennessee, according to the OakRidger.

The new 2,400-unit, $155 million Morgan County Correctional Complex will open this summer as the aging Brushy Mountain State Prison is closed.   The move would have added a net of 1,432 inmate beds to the state prison system. But state Correction Commissioner George Little said those plans were scaled back after Gov. Phil Bredesen called on departments to cut spending. The revised plan will leave 612 units empty until needed …

Nashville-based prison operator Corrections Corporation of America has also temporarily suspended construction work on a new 2,000-bed prison started in Hartsville until it figures out how soon it could fill the beds, The Tennessean reported … “A lot of states are taking the approach that until they understand what their long-term revenues will be, and what assistance they would be realizing from the federal stimulus package, they’re delaying decisions on contracts for additional space from companies like CCA,” said Tony Grande, CCA chief development officer …

[The DOC] says all the room will eventually be needed at the Morgan County complex, but for now the department believes the 600 beds can be left empty by keeping some people on parole or probation out of prison.  The move is intended to eliminate the need to hire more staff at a time when other state employees face being furloughed or laid off.

jakking Economic Issues, Jail and Prison Construction, Tennessee

More than $6.3 million in fines and court costs were collected at no cost to Rutherford County TN taxpayers just during the past two years from offenders convicted of less serious crimes.

The Providence Community Corrections staff on West Main Street has contracted with the county for more than 12 years to collect fees from offenders as part of their probation.  They also collected $1.3 million in fees and court costs during the past two years in their contract with Smyrna General Sessions Court.   Circuit Court Clerk Eloise Gaither said the funds collected pay her office operations with Rutherford County government receiving the majority of the fines and arrest fees.   Providence turned over $199,544 in January.   County Finance Director Lisa Nolen said Gaither turned over $2.5 million in excess fees to the county from 2006 to 2008.

Sean Hollis, Providence’s director of operations in Murfreesboro, said his office collects fines from about 3,000 offenders on probation without charge to the county. Providence operates on the $45 per month offenders pay for probation fees.   Providence collected about 55 percent of the $11.8 million in fines and costs owed to the clerk’s office, Hollis said.   By comparison, news reports showed Davidson County relies on the clerk’s office to collect the fees, the director said. Their collection rate is only about 16 percent.

County Mayor Ernest Burgess said Providence was doing a reasonably good job on behalf of the county.   “It’s a specialized kind of approach,” Burgess said, adding Providence offers classes and services along with the collections.

There is a great deal of detailed operational information at the Murfreesboro Post.

jakking Community Corrections, TN Rutherford County

Trousdale County may have to wait longer to reap the benefits of new jobs from a 2,000-bed prison that Corrections Corporation of America started building in Hartsville TN.

While reporting a 16 percent increase in fourth-quarter net income on Tuesday, the Nashville-based prison operator said it has temporarily suspended construction work until it figures out how soon it could fill those 2,040 beds planned for Trousdale …

CCA began building the Trousdale prison at an industrial park in Hartsville last summer with completion set for early next year. The company had bet that various clients, including the state of Tennessee, federal agencies or other states, would use the additional space to house prisoners.  But in a conference call with analysts Tuesday, CCA executives said budget difficulties faced by many states makes it difficult to forecast how states will proceed.“A lot of states are taking the approach that until they understand what their long-term revenues will be, and what assistance they would be realizing from the federal stimulus package, they’re delaying decisions on contracts for additional space from companies like CCA,” said Tony Grande, chief development officer. The $143 million Hartsville prison was expected to employ 350 people …

For the fourth quarter, CCA earned $40.5 million, or 32 cents a share, vs. $34.9 million, or 28 cents a share, last year. Revenues rose 8.8 percent to $414 million.   Occupancy declined to 92.9 percent from 98 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, primarily as the result of a 9.9 percent increase in the average number of available beds. For all of 2008, CCA earned $150.9 million, or $1.20 a share, vs. $133.4 million, or $1.06 a share, for all of 2007. Revenue rose 9.8 percent to $1.6 billion, the company said.

jakking CCA, Economic Issues, Jail and Prison Construction, Private Prisons, TN Trousdale County, Tennessee

Studies show 67 percent of Tennessee’s criminal offenders re-offend within three years of their release from prison but initiatives that help released prisoners find work and a place to live are working.  Tennessee Department of Corrections spokeswoman Dorina Carter told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that recent studies by the department show re-entry initiatives for prisoners have reduced recidivism by about 10 percent.

“It was difficult to get anybody to talk about rehabilitation ten years ago,” said Tim Dempsey, chief executive officer of Chattanooga Endeavors Inc., a nonprofit organization that helps former prisoners find employment. “The notion of re-entry (of prisoners into the community) wasn’t really anything anybody was talking about or thinking about in the least” …

“People are finding out that you can’t build your way out,” said David Delbridge, executive director of Project Return, a nonprofit organization founded in 1979 to aid prisoner re-entry in Nashville.  “If you continue with the mandatory minimum sentences, you’re going to end up with more people in prisons, and you have more prison beds to build.”

On top of the financial pressures involved, studies in recent years provide more evidence that rehabilitative programs work, said Jim Cosby, assistant commissioner of Tennessee’s division of rehabilitative services.”Fifteen years ago, we did not have a lot of studies or data on what we can do to increase an offender’s success,” Cosby said.

There is more detail in the full piece at WSMV-TV.

jakking Re-Entry, Tennessee

About $50 million may be cut from the state budget for the Tennessee Department of Correction.

TDOC commissioner said that the department could lay off 600-800 people and make major cuts to prison programs such as inmate classes.  Victim advocates believe programs such as one that teaches inmates how crimes affect victims are vital. Advocates said they’re essential because 95-98 percent of those incarcerated will be released and programming has a proven effect on recidivism.

TDOC Commissioner George Little said the department will have to be creative and look at the kinds of inmates they house in order to weather this budget crisis.  He said the department may have to look at alternatives such as drug court or rehab programs and rely more on volunteers while maintaining the same level of public safety.

The department plans for an 8 percent cut or $50 million, affecting programs such as education, work crews and rehabilitation programs.  The budget discussion occurs while state lawmakers are looking to toughen sentencing laws. Little said if this does happen the prison system will need more resources to deal with more inmates as well as the healthcare of older inmates.

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Members of the Greene County Commission in Tennessee deliberated nearly three hours in a workshop meeting Monday, but failed to come up with a plan to present to state jail officials regarding inmate overcrowding.

The Tennessee Corrections Institute has given the Greene County officials until Dec. 3 to approve a long-term plan for dealing with overcrowding at the Greene County Detenction Center, or jail.  Sheriff Steve Burns and Commissioner Jerry Weems appeared before the TCI in October, and were told to have a plan ready by Dec. 3 or face the detention center’s decertification … Burns said the Greene County Detention Center has been “written up” by state officials not only because of basic overcrowding, but because the existing jail does not have enough space to “segregate” violent criminals or gang members from the general inmate population, something the plans for a new jail would seek to address.

A similar workshop meeting was held Nov. 3, but could reach no agreement. County Mayor Alan Broyles said then that the purpose of Monday’s meeting was to come up with a plan that could be presented as a resolution at the Nov. 17 monthly meeting of the Greene County Commission. However, a non-binding “poll” showed that only a handful of commissioners were ready at this time to support some phase of the “new jail, new site” plan, and most were not ready to vote for any plan.

Sheriff Steve Burns has repeatedly said he believes that, if a large enough new detention center, or jail, is built, it can be paid for, or mostly paid for, from additional revenue that will come from housing larger numbers of state and federal inmates. The county currently receives $38 per inmate per day for housing prisoners who are in the custody of the Tennessee Department of Corrections, and $48 per inmate per day for inmates in federal custody, mostly awaiting trial or other action in U.S. District Court either in Greeneville or elsewhere.  However, county budget director David Lawing has said he does not see how the inmate fees can generate more than 65 to 70 percent of the cost of a detention center.  On Monday, Lawing said he thinks inmate funding could fall roughly $1.2 million short if the county commission decides to build the entire $64 million project …

Last week, Jeff Hedden, the U.S. Marshal for the Eastern District of Tennessee, said that the federal government values its relationship with Greene County, and said he thinks that the federal government will need short-term jail space for large numbers of prisoners awaiting court action for the forseeable future, though no guarantees are possible  …

Since the straw poll did not lead to a resolution for the full commission, at the end of Monday’s workshop, Broyles said he would “try to travel to Nashville Dec. 3 to plead the case for Greene County, explain to them that we have worked hard,” and ask for continued certification while that work continues …

Monday’s workshop began when architect Dave Wright presented commissioners with a  … booklet … that he said included 23 possible configurations of the various elements of plans for the proposed new $64 million jail on a new site first presented last week.  The plan that Wright presented did not include land costs, or staffing costs … Wright said the entire project, if built, would result in 286,400 square feet of new construction, and a capacity of 596 beds.  The option that included “the very least you could get by with,” Wright said, called for a one 192-bed cell block, a “core”section with space for utilities, an intake/booking area as large as the cell block, and a small jail administration area …

Wright said expansion and renovation of the present detention center adding 250 new beds and a 64-bed dormitory, would cost about $22 million. It would include administrative and kitchen upgrades, improvements to the “sally port” where vehicles containing prisoners enter the jail, and would require relocating the existing sheriff’s offices elsewhere, at additional cost …

Sheriff Burns pointed out that the current county budget depends on housing an average of 54 federal inmates and a similar number of state inmates. He pointed out that the county has avoided property tax increases for several years by using revenue from housing inmates to balance the general fund. This year, those two sources generate about $2 million, Burns said. “It takes 77 state and 54.25 federal beds to balance the budget” in the current fiscal year, Burns said.

A great deal for information is available in the Greeneville Sun.

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