Committee backs education-assessment bill for inmates after testimony from prison higher-education providers

Chairman White described SB1569 as a bill to require education assessments for every inmate serving a felony at intake and annually thereafter. He said the Department of Corrections requested an amendment allowing assessment results to be sent electronically to the inmate, and the committee accepted that change.

Laura Ferguson Mims, president and CEO of the Tennessee Higher Education Initiative, testified in support, saying “95 percent of incarcerated individuals are coming home,” and urged building education services into rehabilitation planning from intake onward. Barby Brown, THEI director of student services, cited recidivism statistics and RAND research showing participants in prison higher education are less likely to return to prison and that every dollar invested yields several dollars in savings. The amendment and the bill as amended passed committee and will move to the calendar.