United States: penalties make life after prison difficult in Tennessee

With each criminal conviction, the state of Tennessee matter of factly tells the defendants how long they will spend behind bars. Hidden from view, in the fine print, is a long list of additional penalties attached to these convictions.

Only upon leaving prison and attempting to rebuild their lives do offenders experience first hand how these non-prison collateral consequences limit or deny their basic rights to housing, food stamps, education, voting, employment, child custody and much more.

A 2018 study conducted by the Prison Policy Initiative found that “formally incarcerated people are unemployed at a rate of over 27% — higher than the total U.S. unemployment rate during any historical period, including the Great Depression. Exclusionary policies and practices are responsible for these market inequities.”

The study concludes: “A prison sentence should not be a perpetual punishment. States should implement automation record expungement procedures and reform their licensing practices so as to eliminate the automatic rejection of people with felony convictions.”

“The stigma of incarceration and disconnection from the workforce,” according to a Council of State Governments report, “are among the challenges people face when trying to find a job after release from prison or jail. People who have been incarcerated earn 40 percent less annually than they had earned prior to incarceration.

Researchers at the Council of State Governments have prepared a list of 960 “collateral consequences” embedded in Tennessee statutes and regulations, waiting to snare people convicted of a crime. Some consequences kick in automatically. Others are applied on a case-by-case basis. Some have a set duration, while others are indefinite.

Here are examples of how Tennessee’s post-prison penalties make the prison-to-society transition more difficult for ex-offenders.

Employment

“Ineligible for employment as a firefighter.” A mandatory penalty with an indefinite duration for conviction of a felony.

“Ineligible for authorization to drive a school bus.” A discretionary penalty with variable duration for conviction of controlled-substances offenses and motor-vehicle offenses.

“Ineligible for home inspector license.” A mandatory penalty with an indefinite duration for conviction of a felony or misdemeanor.

Other penalties

“Ineligible for Housing Choice Voucher Program participation.” A discretionary penalty with a variable duration for conviction of any felony, controlled-substances offenses, crimes of violence and sex offenses.

“Ineligible to receive state retirement benefits.” A mandatory penalty with an indefinite duration for conviction of any felony and public-corruption offenses.

“Ineligible to vote.” A mandatory penalty with an indefinite duration for conviction of crimes involving fraud, dishonesty, misrepresentation or money-laundering, crimes of violence, public-corruption offenses and sex offenses.

Occupational licenses

Because “One out of five working Americans needs a license to work while one in three American adults has a criminal record,” the Institute for Justice encourages state lawmakers to repeal needless licenses, scale back anticompetitive licensing laws and strengthen the rights of people with a criminal record to gain meaningful employment.

To do so, the institute has prepared, for state adoption, model legislation titled “Collateral Consequences in Occupational Licensing Act.” To date, at least 18 states — including Tennessee — have reformed their occupational licensing laws to reduce entry barriers for those with a criminal record.

According to the Collateral Consequences Resource Center’s Restoration of Rights Project, a nonprofit organization that tracks legal restrictions on people with a criminal record, Tennessee has taken steps to remove employment barriers for ex-offenders.

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