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| Ending repeat offenses |
| By theleafchronicle |
| Published: 08/10/2009 |
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The state corrections system is trying to save millions of dollars by keep low-risk offenders from re-entering the prison system. Unlike its counterparts in other states, the Department of Corrections is not implementing early release programs as a way to alleviate state budget problems. This state is not facing the type of overcrowding problems that California and others are trying to address. Rather, Tennessee is aiming to reduce its 42 percent recidivism rate among the 19,400 state prison inmates and an additional 7,800 people in local jails. There is no recent state-by-state listing of recidivism rates with which to compare those numbers. Right now, 2,000 of the low-risk inmates who have been released are under supervision and another 1,000 are slated to be released by 2011 under the normal parole system. The state hopes to save $64 million during the next two budget years. It costs taxpayers about $62 a day to house a state prison inmate and about $40 a day for a person in jail. In addition to reducing the recidivism rate, the corrections department is cutting back on milk and meat in the inmates' meals, leaving 450 positions vacant and scaling back on inmate work crews that clean up roadside areas and cemeteries. How is the department propose to keep the low-risk offenders from going back? Supervision includes preventing technical violations that can return them to incarceration. Read More. |
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