What is the recidivism rate in Tennessee?
It varies by source from about 45% reported by the Tennessee Department of Corrections in 2001 to about 56% reported by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in 1997. Although this rate has fluctuated historically, it has been consistently high – to the point that the Comptroller of the Treasury Office of Research in a special report asserted that “Tennessee ex-inmates are returning to prison in record numbers for violating parole or for committing new crimes.
