Ranking members in the Tennessee legislature successfully furthered legislation on Thursday that will tighten restrictions on sentencing. The move runs counter to Gov. Bill Lee’s policy-reform rhetoric and indicates an inconsistent criminal justice philosophy among state Republicans.
The most powerful member in each chamber sponsored the so-called "truth in sentencing” bill, House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville) and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally (R-Oak Ridge). The bill as written requires individuals convicted of certain violent crimes to serve 100 percent of a sentence without possibility for early release, parole or any other incentive-based sentencing revision. The House and Senate versions of the bill both passed overwhelmingly on Thursday.
Lee has emphasized saving taxpayer dollars by scrutinizing incarceration practices, though many major policies like the death penalty and natural-life sentences remain in place. Truth-in-sentencing bills, and the punitive logic behind them, strengthen mass incarceration in Tennessee and invest millions in taxpayer money toward keeping more people incarcerated for longer. Lee was silent on both bills while they moved through the legislature, although a Lee proclamation designated April as Second Chance Month in 2019. Earlier this week, legislators killed millions in criminal justice reform funding proposed by Lee.
“Lt. Governor McNally was aware the administration was uncomfortable with some aspects of the original bill,” McNally spokesperson Adam Kleinheider tells the Scene in a written statement. “He has been engaged in active discussions to try to assuage those concerns.”
The bills have been criticized by opponents of mass incarceration, like the ACLU and Families Against Mandatory Minimums, as well as cost-cutting watchdogs like the American Conservative Union. The ACU pointed out the policy’s deceptively low fiscal note ($27 million in official documentation), citing estimated taxpayer costs closer to $90 million and an ineffective approach to public safety. The ACU threatened to ding members’ conservative ratings if they supported the bill.
Matthew Charles, a policy assistant for FAMM, spoke to the Scene about the importance of sentencing flexibility for individuals who are incarcerated.
“We believe the more incentive that is available, the more likely someone is to take advantage of the rehabilitation programs available," says Charles. "And the more likely someone will return to their community sooner. It doesn’t take a person serving every day of their sentence to come to the recollection that they messed up. They want to return to their families and communities.”
Charles was released from prison in January 2019 as a result of the First Step Act and has worked with FAMM since February 2019.
Lawmakers have made little progress against Tennessee’s growing incarceration rate, instead building on decades of costly, racist and punitive practices of policing and imprisonment. A short-lived effort to allow parole for people serving natural-life sentences fizzled out in January. Hours before Oscar Smith's scheduled execution on Thursday, Lee issued Smith a temporary reprieve — not as a referendum on the death penalty but due to apparent issues with the state’s lethal injection protocol. Tennessee is set to execute Harold Nichols in June.
