SHERIFF: EARLY RELEASE OF PRISONERS WOULD DRAW PUBLIC OUTCRY

Sheriff's officials hope Tennessee doesn't consider state budget-cutting
measures that free felons early like Kentucky and Oklahoma have adopted.

Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton released 567 nonviolent felons last month and
another 316 last week. The projected savings is $6 million this fiscal year
and $11 million in the next fiscal year.

"If they're going to save money by doing that, what they're doing is
putting the cost back on the public here in terms of more crimes being
committed," Montgomery County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Ed Patterson said,
explaining many felons are repeat criminal offenders.

Adopting a similar early release philosophy in Tennessee would increase
citizens' outrage in the justice system, Montgomery County Sheriff Norman
Lewis predicted.

"People will be shocked to learn how little time they (prisoners) serve
already," Lewis said. "I don't see how lawmakers can talk about doing
anything less."

Most people don't understand how much time behind bars felons actually
serve, Patterson said.

For example, under the state's current sentencing guidelines, a person
convicted of aggravated burglary could be sentenced by a judge to serve
between eight to 12 years in the state penitentiary.

However, state law requires the felon to serve only 30 percent of that time
(2.4 to 3.6 years) before he or she is eligible for parole, Patterson said.

"This isn't to say they are all paroled when they are first eligible,"
Patterson said.

Also, the percentage could be more, depending on the convicted person's
criminal record.

Also, the state gives most felons good behavior credit, reducing by another
20 percent the time before they are eligible for a parole hearing.

Despite Tennessee's budget woes, most of which stem from an additional $258
million required for TennCare, some state lawmakers were largely opposed to
making early release of inmates a budget tool.

Gov. Phil Bredesen is working with Correction Commissioner Quenton White
"to see where department costs can be cut," Bredesen spokeswoman Lydia
Lenker said. But, it is too early to say the new governor might advance a
prisoner-release plan, Lenker said.

"The governor just took office a few days ago. They don't have definitive
answers for this stuff," she said. "We are in the preliminary stages of
looking at the budgets of each department. Having said that, the safety and
security of Tennesseans is at the top of his agenda, and he never wants to
jeopardize the safety of Tennesseans."

House Majority Leader Kim McMillan, D-Clarksville, said she as yet has seen
no effort to change Tennessee's sentencing system.

"I think there have always been efforts to look at nonviolent offenders and
what sentencing methods can be established to deal with them," McMillan
said. "That is why we have workhouses. That is why we have the ability for
individuals who are considered low-level classifications to serve their
time on weekends."

McMillan said the Legislature should look at ways to steer more felons into
community correction-type programs, which typically cost one-third the
amount it takes to house someone in prison.

Gannett News Service contributed to this report.