Two years after doing an end-around on the legislature, the Tennessee Department of Correction appears ready to resurrect Community Corrections programs with $11 million in funding and a new contract, according to a state senator.
Republican Sen. Ed Jackson, of Jackson, confirmed a tentative revamping of the program earlier this month and said he is preparing to send a letter to the Administrative Office of the Courts asking it to notify judges they can feel confident in resuming sentences to the intensive probation program. The legislature created the program in 1985 as a last chance for offenders who didn’t qualify for typical probation programs and otherwise would be headed to prison.
The new direction, which remains tentative, comes after lawmakers passed a measure in 2023 prohibiting the Department of Correction from penalizing Community Corrections agencies for supervising offenders sentenced to them based under the 40-year-old law. A Department of Correction spokesperson did not immediately comment.
Legislators also sent a strong message to correction officials at an August 2023 meeting that they wanted the program to be renewed, instead of shifting all offenders to the state’s probation program, which is considered understaffed and less effective.