Every state operates a criminal justice system that is unique to that state because each state’s system is created, modified, and reinforced based on the population of that state, its geographic size, political inclinations, overall poverty rate, and annual crime rate. In just a few sections, this article briefly summarizes critical aspects of Tennessee’s criminal justice sector, beginning with studying Tennessee’s prison population and per capita incarceration data.

People who want to learn about criminal justice in Tennessee should begin by finding answers to the following questions:

• What criminal rehabilitation programs are used in Tennessee?
• Are there alternatives to incarceration in Tennessee?
• How many people are incarcerated in Tennessee?
• What are the biggest prisons in Tennessee?
• What is Tennessee’s recidivism rate?
• What is Tennessee’s crime rate?

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, Tennessee has the 23rd highest incarceration rate in the country, just ahead of Oregon but just behind Wisconsin. Tennessee incarcerates about 314 people for every 100,000 living in the state. The overall U.S. incarceration rate is about 350 for every 100,000.¹

Tennessee holds about 31,330 people in its 112 jails. Spread across 95 counties, most Tennessee jails are meant to hold individuals in pre-trial detention or to keep them in confinement while they serve short-term sentences for minor offenses.²

Tennessee operates 11 state prisons, where the state incarcerates about 26,349 people. Tennessee also operates a community corrections program with 62,472 people under probation and 11,058 under parole. Tennessee’s facilities operate with 5,716 employees and a budget of $1,036,237,100. According to the Urban Institute, Tennessee spends about $200 per capita per year, making the state’s Department of Corrections the seventh costliest item in the state’s annual budget.³

Image courtesy of www.tn.gov

According to Nashville-based reporting, the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center is Tennessee’s largest prison. Opened in 2016 with a capacity of 2,672, the Trousdale Turner Correctional Center is a private prison operated by CoreCivic. According to local reporting, the prison faces internal and external challenges. According to a lawyer for one of the prisoners, “What the prisoners understand is basically that the place doesn’t operate without them. They’re the ones that are distributing meals three times a day. They’re the ones that are taking the trash out. They’re the ones that are keeping everything running. So there’s this very tricky relationship between the prisoners, who keep the wheels on the bus, and the guards, who have all of the theoretical power and control. I think there’s a lot of fear from the guard side that that power shift can go the wrong way basically at any time.”⁴ According to the Sentencing Project, Tennessee incarcerates about 7,635 prisoners in private prisons, an increase of 118% from 3,510 in 2000.⁵

What is the crime rate in Tennessee? Is the Tennessee crime rate improving? According to Tennessee’s reporting system tasked with gathering crime data, in 2021, Tennessee recorded the following:⁶

• The crime rate per 100,000 was 7,207.
• A total of 132,253 arrests were made in 2021. 7.65% were juveniles.
• There were 18,757 DUI arrests in 2021, an increase of 3.03% from 2020.
• Juvenile arrests for offenses totaled 10,117 in 2021, increasing by 7.54% since 2019.
• A total of 502,706 criminal offenses were reported in 2021, decreasing 1.38% from 2020.
• A total of 15,934 weapon law violations were reported in 2021, a 21.51% increase from 2020.

The above is just a summary and does not encompass all types of crime, but it does show that crime rates either stayed the same or increased slightly in the last year, reflecting an uptick that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and which continues to trend upward.

Recidivism may be the most important metric when examining a state’s criminal justice system because recidivism indicates whether or not a state’s criminal justice system is working. Recidivism is the percentage of offenders who complete their prison sentence, are released from prison, and then go on to re-offend.

“Providing offenders with informed, evidence-based rehabilitative programs and resource support both during incarceration and in the community is key to changing criminal behavior.”

Tennessee has improved its recidivism, but work still needs to be done. According to a report out of Nashville, statewide recidivism for 2016 was 47.1%, down from 50.5% in 2010. When asked for a comment on the state’s recidivism rate, Tennessee Department of Corrections Commissioner Tony Parker said, “Providing offenders with informed, evidence-based rehabilitative programs and resource support both during incarceration and in the community is key to changing criminal behavior. These encouraging numbers demonstrate that we’re on the right track and I’d like to thank our dedicated team of correctional professionals for their work in making Tennessee safer.” Looking to the future, the Volunteer State plans to implement additional, evidence-based criminal reform programs to reduce recidivism.⁷

Tennessee has moved towards implementing evidence-based criminal reform modalities to reduce recidivism. Further progress could be made by implanting additional programs that fall into the following categories:

• Substance abuse treatment programs for offenders who misuse drugs and alcohol
• Work training programs to help offenders learn valuable skills for post-incarceration life
• Life skills programs and coping strategies to help offenders live crime-free lives following their release

In addition to implementing additional, evidence-based reform modalities for offenders, policymakers should utilize educational programs inside prisons in Tennessee. Increasingly, criminal behavior can be traced back to critical life hardships and difficult situations one could not cope with. When an offender is empowered with the tools they need to get to the bottom of the issues that led them to crime in the first place, they’re more likely to build the life skills and healthy coping strategies they need to avoid committing crimes in the future.

Finally, Tennessee should implement alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders, as doing so will reduce the burden on the prison system and keep offenders who do not need to be incarcerated out of the incarceration system. Such programs can include:

• Probation
• House arrest
• Community service
• Work release programs
• Substance abuse programs

Between alternatives to incarceration and true reform-based programs and educational systems in place in prisons, Tennessee will be able to greatly speed up its ongoing improvements in the Tennessee criminal justice system. Once people who commit a crime in Tennessee are empowered with educational materials and real reform tools that can help them understand why they committed a crime, they can work on overcoming that “why?” and begin setting the stage for a crime-free life.

Sources:

1. BJS. “Prisoners in 2020 – Statistical Tables.” Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2023. bjs.ojp.gov
2. NIC. “Tennessee 2019.” National Institute of Corrections, 2019. nicic.gov
3. UrbanInstitute. “Project Tennessee.” Urban Institute, 2023. urban.org
4. NashvilleScene. “Tennessee’s Largest Prison Still Appears as Troubled as Ever.” Nashville Scene, 2019. nashvillescene.com
5. SentencingProject. “Private Prisons in the United States.” The Sentencing Project, 2019. sentencingproject.org
6. TDOC. “2021 Crime in Tennessee.” Tennessee Department of Corrections, 2021. tn.gov
7. TDOC. “Tennessee Recidivism Rate Shows Promising Decrease.” Tennessee Department of Correction, 2017. tn.gov