Correctional Money Mystery Could Impact Public's Safety

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - A state lawmaker and Metro's police chief want to know if millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent the right way. They're concerned the situation could lead to putting the public's safety at risk.

Lawmaker Janis Sontany wants to know what happens to the cash that the state pays up front to put certain criminals behind bars, when they only serve a small part of their sentence.

"Every community meeting I go to, someone says to me ‘you need to keep the prisoners in, for a longer period of time,'" said Sontany.

They've passed legislation recently that adds prison time for robbers who used a gun during the crime. In this situation, Tennessee has to pay up front for the criminals extended prison stay. In many cases only 30 percent of the sentence is served.

"I think somebody needs to ask them, where the money is that is being spent now that we have to pay for over sentences that won't go into effect for five or ten years?" said Serpas.

Serpas and Sontany said they can't seem to get a straight answer to the question of where the rest of the money goes that was supposed to pay for the prison sentence.

"Where's the rest of the money? What pot is the money that was left over from where we funded the 5 year sentence, but only 30 percent of it was served," said Sontany.

Both believe extra cash is available to keep criminals behind bars longer which would increase public safety.

"I think they raise a good question about the future of corrections," said George Little, Dept. of Correction Commissioner.

Little said there's no secret pot of cash anywhere, but there is a $44 million reserve account, money mainly used to create new prison beds, like in Morgan County.

"Probably a quarter of the total construction cost came from sentencing act money's that were accumulated over a number of years," said Little.

Serpas and Sontany are no doubt frustrated knowing keeping criminals behind bars longer could have a huge impact, but also a hefty price tag that may be unaffordable in these tough times. It's a concern Commissioner Little shares.

"The question going forward is, what are the priorities? What is Tennessee willing to spend it's dollars on?" said Little.

The Commissioner also said any left over cash from those so-called "enhanced sentences" stays within the Department of Correction.

There are no refunds. The Correction Commissioner said they do put the money to good use.

Like other state agencies, the Department of Correction will have to make some major cuts because of tough times. The cuts will be revealed during budget hearings next month.