Criminal justice reform shouldn’t leave anyone behind
I am a living example of what a second chance looks like. Getting a fair punishment and a second chance should not depend on something as arbitrary as the date you went to court.
As someone who spent 22 years in prison, I know first-hand that you are not the same person at sentencing that you are when you are released – and that there is too often not a path to have an excessive sentence reconsidered.
I was the first person released under the federal First Step Act, landmark federal legislation signed by President Trump.
When I started my 35-year prison sentence for selling drugs, I experienced a radical transformation by reading the Bible and becoming a Christian. I took every Bible study and educational class I could, became a tutor and then a law clerk, started serving others in prison, and didn’t receive a single disciplinary infraction.
Tennessee has a chance to right some wrongs
In 2010, Congress passed legislation that reduced excessive sentences for drug offenses like mine, but those changes only impacted folks sentenced after the passage of that law. The First Step Act made those changes retroactive and made me eligible for release right away. Thankfully, I have led a purposeful, law-abiding life ever since.
I am blessed to have benefitted from a second chance, especially knowing that if not for that retroactivity I would still be behind prison walls for another 10 years.
Tennessee has the opportunity to right some wrongs and pass similar reforms this year that will give the opportunity for a second chance to those incarcerated for past mistakes. Last year, the Tennessee legislature passed an important bill that reduced the size and scope of the state’s harsh, inflexible drug-free zone laws.
Under these laws, people who committed minor drug offenses within 1,000 feet of a park or school, even if they were inside their own homes or vehicles and not interacting with children, received sentences years longer than those who committed the same offense just a single foot further from these locations.
Worse, these longer sentences were mandatory – there was no flexibility for judges to weigh the individual circumstances of the case, and no parole eligibility to reconsider whether the long sentence was still necessary years later.
State House member is proposing a law to fix unfair sentences
Analysis found that these zones covered large areas of the state, including rural areas. Thankfully, the legislature fixed this issue by extending more flexibility for judges and reducing the size of these zones to 500 feet, and making the mandatory sentence optional except in cases where children are endangered.
But these changes were prospective only. About 500 people are stranded in prison now, serving decades under a law the legislature recognized was arbitrary, unfair, and over broad. In some cases, these folks have more years to serve than someone sentenced under the new law today.
Thankfully, Rep. Michael Curcio, Rdickson, and Sen. Kerry Roberts, Rspringfield, are sponsoring legislation that would allow individuals to have their cases re-examined. For those who do not pose a danger to society, a parole board could decide that they can be safely released into the community.
This is similar to the changes made in the First Step Act, and places an appropriate check on the system to make sure that each individual’s case is being reexamined before a release is deemed appropriate. It also provides the only pathway to a second chance – something that has been closed off to these folks due to the rigid nature of the mandatory minimum sentences that the legislature saw fit to change last year.
I am proof positive of living a productive life after prison
Since my release, I have begun volunteering at a local food pantry in Nashville and work with a national nonprofit organization to advocate for smart criminal justice reforms.
I have met numerous lawmakers, governors, and was even an invited guest of President Trump during his State of the Union address in 2019. Best of all, I am able to enjoy and take care of my children and grandchildren.
There is a lot of untapped potential among those currently serving outdated sentences in Tennessee prisons. These are sons, daughters, mothers, and fathers who have paid their debt and deserve a second look like the one I got.
I am a living example of what a second chance looks like, and Tennessee should give people sentenced under the old drug-free school zone law a shot at a more appropriate sentence. Getting a fair punishment and a second chance should not depend on something as arbitrary as the date you went to court.
Matthew Charles was sentenced to a 35-year prison sentence in 1996 for trafficking in crack cocaine. A judge later ruled that the sentence was unfair and ordered him released, but another court sent him back to prison. Shortly after Congress passed and former President Donald Trump signed the First Step Act in December 2018, a judge in Nashville ordered Charles released.