NASHVILLE – Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee on Monday signed into law two criminal justice reform bills he championed this year that will offer community-based alternatives to incarceration for low-level or nonviolent felons and help inmates with education and life skills.
Lee said the measures should improve the chances of success once incarcerated people are released from prison.
“This is how we transform lives,” said Lee, a businessman who prior to running for governor in 2018 had worked as a volunteer for Men of Valor, a men’s Christian ministry that mentors prisoners. He later became a board member. As a candidate, Lee pledged to work on criminal justice reforms.
Standing by the governor at Monday’s bill-signing event at the Tennessee State Museum was Chattanooga Councilwoman Demetrus Coonrod, who overcame her own hardscrabble start in life, including a federal prison sentence.
Eventually turning her life around, Coonrod became a businesswoman, got her voting rights restored and ran successfully for the council in 2017.