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Pastor urges lawmakers to fund in‑prison education, expand volunteer access
Summary
A pastor testifying to the Joint Interim Committees urged legislators to treat prison education as a budget priority, called for study desks in cells, expanded volunteer access and vocational training beginning at ninth grade to reduce recidivism.
Pastor Dr. White told the Joint Interim Committees that many incarcerated students read at about a fourth‑ or fifth‑grade level and urged the panel to treat education for people behind bars as a budget priority.
"Education. We have to do more to educate those who are incarcerated," Dr. White said, adding that programs that give people "something to look forward to" change behavior and lower recidivism. He said Tennessee’s Fast Track Education Initiative was being provided to committee members as an example.
Dr. White described practical changes he recommended, including providing desks in cells so people could study when they cannot access a library, increasing visitation by ministers and volunteers, and creating more structured dormitory days and incentives for good behavior. "If someone who's doing 20 years knows that there are people ... to help them and to better them, it's gonna have an influence on how they react," he said.
Lawmakers asked about administrative barriers to outside volunteers and transparency. Dr. White described security procedures that limit access — multiple gates, searches and waits — and said inconsistent processing of paperwork leaves willing volunteers waiting. "If we could get our administrative process to be better to process that information quicker so we can get people in," he told the committee.
The pastor also raised safety and trauma concerns inside facilities, including sexual assault and extortion, and urged legislative attention to parole processing and incentives (often called "good time") that once rewarded participation in programs. Representative Bingham and others pressed him on whether morale had dropped after some incentive changes; Dr. White said he believed it had.
The committee did not take formal action in response to Dr. White’s testimony but heard it as context for future budget and policy deliberations. Chair closed that portion of the record by asking members to consider Dr. White’s written materials and the Tennessee model provided to the committee.
