NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators and the NAACP State Conference will host a town hall meeting Thursday to discuss mass incarceration and its impact on the community.
Tennessee Black Caucus chairwoman Brenda Gilmore says the symposium will focus on the results of mass incarceration in overall society, particularly in the African-American community.
“For very minor crimes we’d like to explore if there are some alternative sentencing and options rather than putting them in very expensive prisons and sometimes they come out worse than when they went in.”
Gilmore says the symposium will examine President Barack Obama's Recommendation concerning prisons, as well as Gov. Bill Haslam's Task Force Recommendation on Incarceration.
The meeting will begin at 10 a.m. Thursday in Legislative Plaza room 29 and is open to the public.