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Lee closes in on criminal justice reform efforts





LeeMark Humphrey / Associated Press

LeeMark Humphrey / Associated Press

Two years after clinching gubernatorial victory on a platform of criminal justice reform, Gov. Bill Lee is on the threshold of delivering a legislative package aimed at keeping nonviolent offenders out of prison and stopping previously incarcerated people from committing more crimes after their release.

Key priorities in the governor’s legislative agenda this year, Lee’s two justice reform bills are scheduled for finance committee votes in the state House and Senate this week — the last step before a final floor vote.

The pair of bills would offer alternatives to prison for nonviolent offenders like drug courts and mental health courts, and establish community supervision and streamline probation and parole mechanisms for people reentering society after time in prison.

“Rehabilitation is as important to evaluate as retribution,” Lee said in an interview with Main Street Nashville. “They both are incredibly important components of justice, and we have to consider them both.”

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, left, speaks to reporters in January in Nashville.Mark Humphrey / Associated Press

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, left, speaks to reporters in January in Nashville.Mark Humphrey / Associated Press

The idea for the legislation began long before Lee set foot in the governor’s office or embarked on the campaign trail. It began about 20 years ago, when Lee volunteered with a ministry called Men of Valor that provides mentoring and reentry programs for men released from prison.

“I learned an awful lot about the exit side of incarceration through that work,” Lee said. “What I learned in reentry work is that there are strategies that are evidence-based that reduce recidivism dramatically, which saves taxpayer dollars. It reduces crime. It reduces the number of victims, and all of that is a win for the people and the state.”

For conservative Republicans, criminal justice reform has not traditionally been a trademark issue. In recent years, the mantra for operatives on the right has been “tough on crime.”

But Lee, a conservative Republican, calls for policies that are both “tough on crime” and “smart on crime.” He made the issue central during his campaign, and it’s become a top priority in his administration.

 

 

Within two months of taking office, Lee appointed a Criminal Justice Reinvestment Task Force to develop policies aimed at improving public safety and reducing the number of offenders who commit more crimes after leaving prison.

He’s since signed legislation that reduced the size of drug-free zones around schools and corresponding mandatory minimum sentences, and signed into law a measure to reduce the state fee for expungement charges.

“I do think the state has an opportunity to be a national leader. We do know that nationally, this issue is becoming more important to conservatives,” Lee said.

On Wednesday, Lee hosted a virtual roundtable on criminal justice reform with national conservative leaders including U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Brooke Rollins, former acting director of the U.S. Domestic Policy Council under President Donald Trump.

Lee’s proposed reforms

The governor’s two proposed bills are dubbed the “Alternatives to Incarceration Act” and the “Re-entry Success Act of 2021.”

Lee proposed a similar reform package last year that moved through the committee process until the state legislature recessed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the legislature reconvened, the package was set aside as state officials and legislators focused on pandemic response.

This year Lee’s proposals have been roundly hailed by Republicans in the GOP-majority legislature and appear ripe for passage.

Tennessee spends more than $1 billion of the state budget each year on corrections but has the fourth-highest violent crime rate in the nation. Each inmate housed in state prisons costs taxpayers about $30,000 a year.

Senate Bill 767, the “Alternatives to Incarceration Act,” is designed to break the cycle of people coming in and out of prison for minor infractions during probation and parole. It would reduce the maximum time a person could be placed on probation from 10 years to eight years, prevent single technical violations from being the basis for probation being revoked, and make more people eligible for drug, mental health and veterans courts.

Tennessee’s incarceration rate has risen to 10% above the national average in the last 10 years, and nearly everyone who goes into prison will reenter society after serving their sentence.

But in Tennessee, nearly half of previous offenders commit another crime within three years of release from prison. In Shelby County, the recidivism rate is about 30%. In Knox County, about 70% of offenders commit another crime.

“That’s another victim. It’s another crime. It’s another $30,000 price tag to incarcerate these individuals, and it doesn’t have to happen,” Lee said.

Senate Bill 768, the “Re-entry Success Act of 2021,” would require one year of post-release mandatory supervision for anyone sent to prison after July 1, 2021. It would also limit liability for employers who hire someone with a criminal record, and it would remove a $65 fee to obtain a restricted driver’s license to make it easier for those reentering society to keep a job. The legislation would offer increased daily reimbursements for inmates if local jails offer classes and other resources to inmates, and it makes several changes to parole procedures.

“What we want are outcomes. We want people to stop their criminal behavior, and if that outcome is best achieved through rehabilitation and not through incarceration, then that’s what we want to do,” Lee said.

What’s next?

Lee’s task force made no fewer than 21 recommendations for future reforms, and he says the issue will continue to be central to his administration for as long as he is in office.

“This is legacy work that we can all be proud of, primarily because it’s going to impact human beings’ lives for good,” Lee said during the virtual roundtable Wednesday.

In the future, Lee says the state’s structure for sentencing “should be looked at” — one of the task force’s recommendations.

Meanwhile, Lee says he’s received hundreds of requests for executive clemency from those requesting sentence commutations, pardons or exonerations, but has not yet granted a request. He said each case will be evaluated “when all the information is made available.”

“Every individual case will stand on its own,” Lee said. “Those require — and duly so — they require the appropriate amount of time to put into looking at them. … Decisions will be made, but they’ll just be made one day at a time, or one event at a time.”

In just over two years since Lee took office, four inmates on death row have been executed in Tennessee — one more than during Gov. Bill Haslam’s eight years in office.

As for easing the process of restoring voting rights for felons who have served their sentence, Lee says it’s an issue that he’s willing to talk about, but it’s not his primary focus.

“My primary focus is to have that person … have a productive life, be able to be employed, be able to be connected to their family and to support them, become a taxpayer as opposed to a receiver of benefits from the citizenry,” Lee said.

“To the degree that we can reduce recidivism and lower the cost to the taxpayers, and have better outcomes, and lower crime rates, that is something worth working on for years.”

“What we want are outcomes. We want people to stop their criminal behavior, and if that outcome is best achieved through rehabilitation and not through incarceration, then that’s what we want to do.”

Gov. Bill Lee

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