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| Yusuf Hakeem and Charles Traughber, Board of Probation and Parole, meets with Times Free Press editorial board | |
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| Charles Traughber | |
Repeat offenders continue to trouble local and state law enforcement officials, who say a new approach is needed to prevent criminals from repeatedly cycling through the prison system.
“Our job needs to be, ‘How do we reduce recidivism?’ That’s the enemy,” said Charles Traughber, chairman of the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole, during Monday’s meeting with members of the Times Free Press editorial board.
Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole now supervises 69,000 felons under probation or parole. State prisoners experience a 42 percent recidivism rate, which includes all major and minor violations, Mr. Traughber said. The department hopes eventually to cut that rate to 25 percent, he said.
To hit that goal, the Board of Probation and Parole and the Tennessee Department of Correction are starting an assessment program to identify those who are out on probation or parole most likely to reoffend with petty crimes who do not pose a significant risk to the community. Violent offenders would remain behind bars.
Staff Photo by Patrick Smith
Charles Traughber, right, chairman for the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole, speaks to members of the Times Free Press editorial board on Monday. Mr. Traughber, along with Yusuf Hakeem, left, board member of the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole for Hamilton County, spoke about reducing recidivism rates through a new Joint Offender Management Plan, a shared effort between the Tennessee Department of Correction and the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole.
State funding — $4 million from the current budget, mostly for personnel — will allow the departments to offer specific treatment and supervision based on the assessment’s results, officials said.
If a person needs help finding transportation to meet with a probation officer, treatment for substance abuse or employment, the state will assist in providing those at the local level under the program.
Department employees already have inquired to local companies, including Volkswagen, about providing jobs for parolees and probationers.
“The reality is they’re coming back to Chattanooga and Hamilton County and if they see no way of surviving, they’ll go into an area that can have them reincarcerated,” said Yusuf Hakeem, a Board of Probation and Parole board member and former Chattanooga city councilman.
The new program will target those already in the community and will not release prisoners into the streets, Mr. Traughber said.
The cost per inmate per day in a state facility is about $63, according to correction department records. The state expects to save $64 million over two fiscal years by using the assessment, he said.
If the program is not used, the state will be faced with increasing prison populations, he said.
“If you keep more people out and they don’t come back and you cut the rate of return, over time that’s going to save dollars,” Mr. Traughber said.
The Hamilton County Jail does not house state felons, so the parolees and probationers helped by the program would not directly alleviate the cost of housing prisoners at the downtown facility. There are, however, more than 3,400 Hamilton County residents on state probation and 400 on state parole, records show.
The Hamilton County concurrent and regular grand juries also recently addressed the issue of recidivism in their latest reports, but they offered a different suggestion for the state.
Grand juries are the bodies of citizens who hear preliminary evidence of crimes and decide whether to indict people for those crimes.
The group said it found that cases involving repeat offenders operating vehicles under the influence of alcohol or drugs, with a suspended or revoked license or no liability insurance were the most numerous.
“The state legislature needs to study this issue in order to determine if additional jail time is needed for the individuals committing these types of crimes,” the grand jury noted in its final report.
“This Jury, as well as prior juries, is very concerned about the number of repeat offenders,” the report stated.
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The Department of Corrections and Board of Probation and Parole are moving in the right direction, guided by evidence-based practices that have shown promise in many other states. Most encouraging is the State's commitment to enhance and expand services within the departments as a strategy to stabilize offenders and position them for success in the community. However, for this strategy to have the intended consequence of lowering recidivism to 25 percent, the community must do its part by adequately funding existing organizations and community collaboratives and -- most importantly -- by making jobs available to offenders that are serious about a second chance. The private sector holds the key to the problem of repeat crime. There is no hope for success after prison without a job. Programs like Chattanooga Endeavors make it safe and simple for companies to hire former offenders...and to improve public safety by adding dedicated employees to their workforce. If Chattanooga is to benefit by the departments' new approach it will be because the community joined in and did its part too.
Do you realize it cost the State $62 dollars per day to house (1)inmate. Multiply that by the number of inmates in Tn. You want to save money - improve safety for your neighborhood, go the Texas route and start giving out the real punishment for some of those haneous crimes. What it cost for (1) year is more than poverty level and they get, recreation, 2-3 meals per day, healthcare and a temperature contolled conditioned space to live in. Which I might add is more than what most elderly people get these days.
Yike! bigmoma412, you make prison sound almost delightful. Without even attempting to convince you otherwise, let me just point out that the direct cost of incarceration is not even close to what you mention ($62 dollars per day). People use that number to illustrate how expensive the system is, but you don't save $62 dollars per day by reducing the population by one. You only save money in the Department of Corrections by reducing the population sufficient to shutter a facility. Therefore, you would have to execute the equivalent of a full prison count (approx 2,000 inmates) to begin saving money. Perhaps you would say, "good for that!" But that's five times more executions than Texas during the last three decades. I understand your frustration. There are many people that just don't know what to do. But our tough on crime policies in America have made us the world's leading jailer. With just 5% of the world's population we have 25% of the worlds prisoners. I would suggest -- and research supports -- that there are much better, less costly, and more "American" ways to fix the problem.