Tennessee's truth in sentencing bills would discourage rehabilitation | Opinion

• Matthew Charles is a policy associate for FAMM, the first person released from federal prison under the First Step Act, and an honored guest at President Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address.

Among the changes to the criminal justice system being considered in the state legislature, none are as potentially harmful as Rep. William Lamberth and Speaker Cameron Sexton’s respective “truth in sentencing” bills, and other bills like them.

A better name for them might be “Anti-Rehabilitation Bills.” In an attempt to provide crime victims with clarity about the length of prison sentences for those who harmed them, parole is eliminated. Making matters worse, incentives for incarcerated people to rehabilitate themselves to shorten their sentences are removed.

These bills are all stick and no carrot. People would be kept in prison longer if they break rules, but wouldn’t be sent home sooner if they rehabilitate themselves. The bills require many people to serve 100% of their sentences no matter what they do.

I know from my years spent in prison that most people are unlikely to pursue self-improvement without being offered a substantial benefit, such as time off their sentence.

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People response to incentives - including people who are incarcerated

I sympathize with the concern that punishments be clear, easy to understand and relatively certain. Both victims and people going to prison want to know the release date and what it takes to get released.

But clarity and certainty are not the only virtues to be upheld in our criminal justice system. A major purpose of prison is to rehabilitate people. Any system that fails to rehabilitate incarcerated people makes us all less safe.

A basic fact of economics and human nature is that people respond to incentives. This includes people in prison. Any sentencing plan the legislature adopts should encourage rehabilitation by preserving two vital incentives: early parole eligibility and earned and good time credits.

Cutting these incentives creates problems, both inside prisons and out.

When Arizona eliminated parole and earned time credits in 1993, prison rule violations increased by 50% and the reoffending rate jumped 7.7 percentage points. Similarly, when Georgia limited parole eligibility in 1998, there was a 15% increase in prison rule violations and 5-to-7-point increase in the recidivism rate.

We don’t want similar results here in Tennessee.

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Tennessee's prison rehabilitation programs are effective

Most people in Tennessee prisons are in desperate need of drug and mental health treatment, education, job skills and training, anger management and parenting skills, and computer literacy.

Currently, most people in Tennessee prisons are eligible to earn up to 16 days per month off their sentences for good behavior and rehabilitation. This helps keep prisons safe and manageable for the Department of Correction. Prisons without incentives for good behavior are rife with rule-breaking, drug use, fighting, violence and fear.

People in Tennessee prisons can also receive time off for earning a high school diploma or college degree, completing vocational training, working a job and participating in drug treatment programs.

These programs are effective because they directly address the problems that led many people into crime in the first place. But these programs are not easy, and the motivation of going home sooner helps them weather the challenge.

President Donald Trump understood these principles when he signed the First Step Act into law. That bill was not perfect, but it recognizes that incentives in prison work.

Recently, many people have come home from federal prisons months early because of the credits they earned for rehabilitative programs under Trump’s First Step Act. I promise you, the people in prison watching others leave are now thinking hard about what they can do to improve themselves and get back home.

Tennessee should not make the mistake of eliminating the two best incentives it has to offer to incarcerated people: a chance at early parole, and time off the sentence for rehabilitation. Doing so will cost everyone more and makes all of us less safe.

Matthew Charles is a policy associate for FAMM, the first person released from federal prison under the First Step Act, and an honored guest at President Trump’s 2019 State of the Union address.