Tennessee

FAMM is working in Tennessee in 2023. FAMM successfully supported reforms to Tennessee’s overly broad and excessive mandatory minimum sentences for drug-free school zone offenses in 2020, and making those reforms retroactive in 2022. Hundreds of people in Tennessee became eligible for resentencing because of these retroactive reforms. You can read more about this work here.

Unfortunately, in recent years Tennessee has also increasingly created more mandatory time-served and mandatory minimum sentences, and several lawmakers are trying to create more despite the fact that long sentences do not deter crime or make us safer, produce unjust results, fill prisons, and cost taxpayers millions of dollars each year. FAMM opposes these efforts.

Additionally, Tennessee law still requires people convicted for crimes committed when they were under age 18 to serve at least 51 years in prison before they can become eligible for parole. FAMM supports creating earlier parole eligibility for this group of people.

FAMM’s 2023 policy goals are to

Allow people serving life sentences for crimes committed as children to seek parole eligibility after serving 15 or 20 years in state prison.
Oppose efforts to create longer and more mandatory sentencing requirements.
Improve conditions in Tennessee’s state prisons.

Ask Tennessee lawmakers to support second chances

Ask Tennessee lawmakers to oppose mandatory sentencing requirements

Please contact Matthew Charles at mcharles@famm.org for questions about our Tennessee work.

2023 Laws and Policy

Earlier Parole Eligibility for People Convicted as Children

SB 905/ HB1171 (Sen. Akbari/Rep. Dixie) – This bill would allow courts to give a sentence less than the minimum term required when sentencing a minor convicted as an adult; prohibit courts from sentencing juvenile offenders to life without the possibility of parole; and authorize minors convicted as adults who served at least 20 years to file a motion for a sentence reduction. FAMM supports this bill.

Past Reform Efforts

2022:

New Law: Resentencing for Drug-free School Zone Sentences Imposed Before September 1, 2020

In 2022, the legislature passed HB 1449, and Governor Bill Lee signed the bill into law. This new law went into effect on April 29, 2022. The new law allows people in Tennessee state prisons who are serving drug-free zone sentences they received before September 1, 2020, to file a motion in court for a sentence review and reduction. The new law does NOT bar people from also seeking clemency to get their drug-free zone sentence reduced by the governor. FAMM supported this bill.

Read about how to seek a reduced sentence in court under HB 1449.

Read about how HB 1449/SB 1528 would allow resentencing for people serving old drug-free zone sentences.

Opposing Anti-Rehabilitation Bills

In the 2022 legislative session, several bills were introduced in Tennessee to eliminate parole and earned and good time credits for completing rehabilitative programs in prison. Many of these bills also required people to serve 85 or 100 percent of their sentences, with no time credits or parole eligibility.

FAMM opposed these anti-rehabilitation bills. Parole eligibility and time off a sentence are powerful incentives for people to display good behavior and rehabilitate themselves. Rehabilitation means less re-offending and safer communities once people leave prison. Making people serve 85 or 100 percent of their sentences without any parole or good time or earned time credits will also increase the prison population and costs and require the building of expensive new prison facilities.

Unfortunately, one of these bills, SB 2248, became law. The new law requires that people convicted of certain violent offenses serve 100 percent of the sentence, with no eligibility for earned time credits. The law goes into effect July 1, 2022, and only applies to people sentenced after that date.

Read Matthew Charles’s op-ed about why these anti-rehabilitation bills are bad for Tennessee.

New Law: Drug-free School Zone Reform (SB 2734)

In June 2020, the legislature passed SB 2734, which reforms Tennessee’s drug-free school zone law and takes effect July 1, 2020. FAMM supported this reform. Learn more about the new law using the links below.

Read FAMM’s summary of SB 2734.

Read about how to seek clemency based on the new law.

Read how SB 2734 changes Tennessee’s drug-free school zone statute.

FAMM Fellow Matthew Charles’ Letter Supporting Drug-Free Zone Sentencing Reform (June 2, 2020)

Letter from advocacy groups in support of drug-free zone sentencing reform

Resources of Interest:

2020 and 2021:

FAMM supported passage of a major reform of the state’s mandatory sentences for drug-free school zone violations, and urged the governor to grant clemency to those already in prison serving those sentences. In December 2021, Gov. Bill Lee established an expedited clemency application process for those people.

2018:

Status: HB 2111 and SB 2062 have died in the Tennessee Legislature. On April 23rd, the House Committee on Finance, Ways, and Means voted 13-9 against HB 2111 — effectively killing the push for drug-free school zone reform in 2018.

2017:

In November 2017, FAMM, along with a number of leading national criminal justice organizations, sent a letter to Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam urging him to support reform of Tennessee’s drug-free school zone law in the 2018 legislative session.

How You Can Advocate for Sentencing Reform in Tennessee

You can do several things to work toward reforming Tennessee’s sentencing laws.

Advocate for Reform

Encourage your state lawmakers to support mandatory minimum sentencing reform. Be sure to connect with FAMM and other sentencing reformers on Facebook, Twitter, and by signing up for our email list.

Visit our Get Involved page to learn more about advocacy across the nation.

Connect with Reform Groups

Sentencing/Criminal Justice Reform Groups in this State:

Resources and News

FAMM reacts to Tennessee Lawmakers’ latest decision on sentencing bill

Friday, April 21, 2023

For Media Inquiries:John Norton, 202-999-4268jnorton@famm.org FAMM reacts to Tennessee Lawmakers’ latest decision on sentencing bill NASHVILLE – FAMM’s Tennessee State Director Matthew Charles released the following statement after the Tennessee General Assembly failed to pass a new “three strikes” law. “The Tennessee General Assembly was wise to let an expansion of their three strikes law die during this … Read More

FAMM releases statement following Tennessee House Criminal Justice Committee vote

Tuesday, April 4, 2023

For Media Inquiries: Tripp Laino, 202-999-4273 tlaino@famm.org FAMM releases statement following Tennessee House Criminal Justice Committee vote Proposed bill would cost nearly $500 million to construct a new prison NASHVILLE – FAMM’s Tennessee State Director Matthew Charles released the following statement following a vote in the Tennessee House Criminal Justice Committee to approve a bill that will … Read More

Matthew Charles responds to Governor Bill Lee’s clemency grants to those sentenced under the old Drug-Free Zone law

Thursday, December 22, 2022

For Media Inquiries:John Norton, 202-999-4268jnorton@famm.org Matthew Charles responds to Governor Bill Lee’s clemency grants to those sentenced under the old Drug-Free Zone law NASHVILLE – Tennessee Governor Bill Lee today granted clemency to 30 individuals sentenced under the Drug-Free Zone sentencing reform law that was passed by the state legislature earlier this year. “We are grateful to Governor Lee for … Read More

Tennessee’s Reforms to Drug-free School Zone Laws

FAMM started working in Tennessee in 2018 to reform the state’s drug-free school zone law, which was one of the broadest and harshest in the nation.

In June 2020, the state legislature passed SB 2734, which reformed the drug-free school zone law. That reform went into effect on September 1, 2020, but was not retroactive. FAMM immediately urged the governor to grant clemency to approximately 350 people in state prisons already serving sentences under the old drug-free school zone law.
On December 2, 2021, Governor Bill Lee announced an expedited clemency application and review process for people in Tennessee state prisons sentenced for drug-free zone offenses before September 1, 2020.
In 2022, FAMM supported HB 1449, which became law and makes SB 2734 retroactive. HB 1449 took effect on April 29, 2022, and allows people who received drug-free school zone sentences before September 1, 2020, to file a motion in court to be considered for resentencing in line with the new law.

Read about SB 2734.

Read about how to seek clemency based on the new law.

Read about how to seek a reduced sentence in court under HB 1449

The stories below show why FAMM worked to reform Tennessee’s drug-free school zone law.

Wayne Potee

For Wayne Potee, it all comes down to one day. It was a weekday, and he was working on power lines when he took a bad fall off his truck. He suffered an injury to his rotator cuff that required surgery. Afterward, the surgeon prescribed Percocet. In seemingly no time at all, Wayne became addicted to pain medication and his life went to pieces. Now he’s in prison, into year four of a 15-year sentence.

Terrence Davis

Because of the Drug-Free School Zone Act in Tennessee, this low-level drug offender is serving a decade longer than he would have without that enhancement. A distance of 101 feet. For Terrance Davis, that length was the difference between 12 years in prison—with the possibility of parole after serving four years—and the sentence he got: 22 years without parole.

Sara Moore

Sara sold drugs out of her apartment and was arrested. Because she lived in a school zone, her sentence was much greater than it would have been otherwise.

Calvin Bryant

In 2009, Calvin Bryant was convicted of selling drugs and sentenced to 17 years in Tennessee state prison. He was a first-time offender, and he could have served less than three years; instead, he got 17.

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