Corrections_Today_Summer_2024_Vol.86_No.2

PAST PRESIDENT’S CORNER

well as the Reentry and Success Act under the leadership of Governor Bill Lee. This legislation provided the tools and funding necessary to deliver evidenced-based programs prescribed by a validated risk and needs assessment targeting the individual criminogenic factors that promote unlawful behavior. By providing very specific programs and services, Tennessee has reduced the number of individuals returning to prison by 27%. When recidivism is reduced, we reduce crime, which means we reduce the number of victims. We reduce the number of broken families and children with out a parent in their lives. We reduce the costs, both monetary as well as social, associated with incarcera tion. We enhance public safety and yes, we complete the true mission of corrections! If a poll was conducted of every citizen in our communities today, I am confident the majority would communicate a personal interest in what makes our communities safer and healthier. Without question, most would desire to see reduced crime, fewer victims, reduced drug addiction and new approaches to serving those with mental illness. Never forget the importance of the correctional mission because enhancing public safety (the true mission of corrections) is personal to everyone! CT The true mission of corrections is to enhance public safety.

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recidivism rate. To be honest, most could not tell you what recidivism means. The average family never considers the taxpayer costs or the social costs of housing a state inmate. Many believe sending some one to prison or jail satisfies the pain and emptiness a victim feels after the loss of a loved one result ing from a violent crime. Remember, it is not personal, until it’s personal . As a 41-year veteran of corrections work, I have often considered what a more efficient correctional system we could have if every citizen, every correctional employee and every legislator truly understood the true mission of corrections, and most importantly, why completing this mission directly affects each of us as members of society. I would argue the correctional mission is personal to all of us as members of a commu nity and directly affects us whether we realize it or not. The true mission of corrections is to enhance public safety. Enhancing public safety can be accomplished in many ways but for corrections, our primary goal is to take people at what is often their lowest periods in life, determine their risk to reoffend,

and most importantly, provide them the opportunity to engage in life changing programing and treatment designed to reduce their risk to reoffend once released. It is criti cal to remember, 95% of those sent to a prison or jail will return to our communities. One of the most mis understood concepts in correctional work is the belief that people are sent to prison to experience harsh punish ment for the crime they committed. This inaccurate narrative prevents people from understanding the true mission of corrections. Individuals are sentenced to prison as punish ment for a crime; not to be punished! When we consider the fact that 95% of the individuals who walk through the front door of a correctional facil ity will one day, walk out the exit door and return to our communities, we as citizens, should appreciate the importance of a strong focus on suc cessful reentry to society beginning on day one of the sentence. As a former Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Correc tion (TDOC), I had the privilege to witness the passage of the Public Safety Act of 2016 under Governor Bill Haslam’s administration, as

Summer 2024 | Corrections Today

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