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Alternatives to Incarceration director to speak at Lunch with the League on Tuesday

Posted at 9:33 am March 2, 2017
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

The director of Alternatives to Incarceration in Anderson County will discuss the program—which is designed to save taxpayers money by reducing jail overcrowding while helping inmates—during a Tuesday afternoon lunch, a press release said.

The director is Mary Ann Young. She is the featured speaker at Lunch with the League at noon Tuesday, March 7, in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church. The church is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike.

The press release said Alternatives to Incarceration provides a variety of work, vocational training, and counseling services.

The public is invited to the Tuesday lunch meeting. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Anderson County, Community, Front Page News, Government, Police and Fire Tagged With: alternatives to incarceration, jail overcrowding, League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, Lunch with the League, Mary Ann Young, Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church

State: New law will save local governments money on prisoner health care costs

Posted at 8:56 am August 4, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

A new state law is expected to provide relief to government budgets in mandated health care costs for inmates, a press release said.

Tennessee Senator Mike Bell, R-Riceville, and Anderson County Mayor Terry Frank recently held a news conference in Knoxville to discuss the benefits to taxpayers that will result from the legislation, the release said. They were joined by Candace Allen from the Helen Ross McNabb Center.

The press release said the legislation was a result of a brainstorming session sponsored by the Tennessee Association of Professional Bail Agents in East Tennessee late last year. Sheriffs, district attorneys, county executives, judges, corrections administrators, health professionals, and bail bondsmen representing more than 32 Tennessee counties gathered to discuss the shared concern of jail overcrowding and costs threatening county budgets across the state.

“This new law sets out a framework and legal basis for counties to reduce medical expenses for inmates who receive medical care outside of a jail,” said Bell, who is chairman of the Senate Government Operations Committee. “While it does not solve all the issues surrounding the rapidly- increasing costs of incarceration in Tennessee, it will provide some immediate relief to government budgets that are spending more to address these issues at the detriment of other needs.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Government, State, Top Stories Tagged With: Candace Allen, government budgets, health care costs, inmates, jail overcrowding, Medicaid, Mike Bell, pharmacy benefits, prisoners, Senate Government Operations Committee, TennCarre, Tennessee Association of Professional Bail Agents, Terry Frank

Guest column: Mayor opposes move to house federal inmates at county jail

Posted at 9:05 am November 6, 2013
By Terry Frank 4 Comments

Terry Frank

Terry Frank

Prior to my election as mayor, the history of our county jail expansions and additions was one directly related to increasing inmate population. The year 2011 saw property taxes increased 16.2 cents and monies were allocated to alleviating the overcrowding.

Immediately, the quick construction of a new 128-bed dorm as a lower cost solution of $1.74 million alleviated most of the jail overcrowding problem, leaving only the women’s unit with crowding concerns.

Anderson County citizens were then asked that, while current problems were being addressed, why not make plans to address potential overcrowding for years to come? This new $11 million+ addition of another 212 jail beds would carry us for at least the “next 10 years,” according to then-Interim Mayor Myron Iwanski (Commission meeting 4/18/2011). Not only would the new addition allow us room for growth for the future, we were told, but it would be designed with the latest design efficiencies put in place, therefore enabling a more efficient, cost-effective manner of operating our county jail. In fact, then-Interim Mayor Iwanski said “it’s going to be a whole lot less expensive” and a “much more efficient operation.” [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Columns, Opinion Tagged With: Anderson County, county jail, dorm, federal inmates, financial stature, inmates, jail overcrowding, jailers, Myron Iwanski, prisoners, Terry Frank, women's unit

Guest column: County mayor proposes restructuring alternatives to incarceration

Posted at 2:38 am June 8, 2013
By Terry Frank 2 Comments

Terry Frank

Terry Frank

Created by an Anderson County Commission resolution in 2011, the Alternatives to Incarceration, or ATI, program has been batted around as a political hot topic. Though there appears to be disagreement regarding the program, there seems to be agreement on the purpose, intent, and merit of the program. As is the case with most programs, debate centers on implementation.

After much study of ATI as currently structured, I offered steps in our budget proposal to allow us to step away from the mistakes or misunderstandings that took place at the program’s inception in 2011, restructure with more modest and measurable goals, and allow room for growth in the number of clients the program will serve. Small steps forward will allow for much needed growth in trust and credibility of the program itself. The program also needs more realistic, tangible goals to achieve success, and it needs a cooling-off period to allow the mission to depoliticize.

Success requires the confidence of participants, that is, ATI stakeholders like our public defender, our district attorney general, our judges, and our law enforcement community.

The proposed restructuring emphasizes the original mission of the program—offering true alternatives to alleviate jail overcrowding—but it also redirects 1.62 cents on the tax rate to immediate needs: more detention officers. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Guest Columns Tagged With: alternatives to incarceration, Anderson County Commission, Anderson County Detention Facility, Anderson County mayor, Anderson County Sheriff's Department, ATI, budget, detention officers, drug court, health care costs, home monitoring, jail overcrowding, life cycle costs, lobbying, pre-trial release, proposal, recidivism, rehabilitative programs, tax rate, Terry Frank, volunteers

Judges say resigning jail alternatives director made ‘no real attempt’ to work with them

Posted at 11:31 am March 29, 2013
By John Huotari 7 Comments

Mike Baker

Mike Baker (Photo by D. Ray Smith)

Note: This story was updated March 31 to add a link to the judge’s letter.

Mike Baker, the director of Anderson County’s alternatives to jail program, was critical of the judiciary and the county mayor when he announced his resignation last week, saying he didn’t have their support.

This week, though, three Anderson County judges said Baker, whose last day is April 4, had made “no real attempt” to work with them. When Baker started his job about a year ago, they said, he lacked knowledge of Tennessee laws related to prisoner release programs, and he had no relevant experience in the state or Anderson County. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Anderson County, Government, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: alternatives to incarceration, alternatives to jail, Anderson County Commission, Anderson County judges, crime, Don A. Layton, Donald Elledge, jail overcrowding, jail population, Mike Baker, Myron Iwanski, pretrial release, Ron N. Murch, Terry Frank

Alternatives to jail featured at ‘Lunch with the League’

Posted at 8:00 pm March 18, 2013
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The director of Anderson County’s alternatives to jail program will be the featured speaker during “Lunch with the League” on Tuesday.

The presentation by Mike Baker will focus on alternatives to incarceration and the benefits to those affected, including their families and the community. The program starts at noon in the Social Hall of the Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Anderson County, Anderson County, Community, Government, Nonprofits, Police and Fire, Top Stories Tagged With: alternatives to incarceration, jail, jail overcrowding, League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge, Lunch with the League, LWVOR, Mike Baker, Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church

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Classifieds

Availability of the draft environmental assessment for off-site depleted uranium manufacturing (DOE/EA-2252)

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announces the … [Read More...]

Public Notice: NNSA announces no significant impact of Y-12 Development Organization operations at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

ADFAC seeks contractors for five homes

Aid to Distressed Families of Appalachian Counties (ADFAC) is a non-profit community based agency, … [Read More...]

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