“WE ALL CAN BECOME BETTER PEOPLE”
by Sharon Rondeau
(Oct. 9, 2015) — The Post & Email is in receipt of a letter with enclosures from Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) inmate Tracy Finley dealing with the subject of prison reform, “justice,” the incarceration of mentally-ill individuals, and a lawsuit of which The Post & Email was unaware regarding the interpretation of life sentences in Tennessee.
Finley has been incarcerated for 34 years. In a previous unpublished letter, he told The Post & Email that he has twice applied for executive clemency and been denied. He is now 53 years old and expects to serve another eight years if all of the “good time” he has accumulated while in prison is applied.
Finley also informed us that he has been married for ten years, holds a steady job, and became a Christian during his incarceration. He admitted to committing an undisclosed offense at the age of 18 but stated that he is rehabilitated.
In his initial letter, Finley offered a proposal for abolishing the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole (BOPP), which he states wastes “millions of taxpayer dollars” each year. His detailed proposal contends that courts and juries are better equipped to decide offenders’ sentences rather than the BOPP.
In August 2014, Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam convened a “Task Force on Sentencing & Recidivism” consisting of virtually all government employees. Over the last six years, The Post & Email has reported on corruption within Tennessee’s judiciary, jury system, sheriffs’ departments, prosecutors’ offices, and more recently, within the prisons, where inmates are enrolled in unnecessary or inappropriate educational classes in order to collect federal taxpayer dollars.
Haslam has failed to respond to The Post & Email’s provision of documentation on the internal “prisoners-for-profit” scheme operating at NWCX. Likewise, state legislators have refused to clarify the law or rein in judges who use the grand jury to act against defendants for whom they bear an animus.
Mr. Finley shared in his letter that the foreman of the grand jury which indicted him “had been on that job for 15 years, with a 100% conviction rate.” [Editor’s Note: By “conviction,” Finley most likely meant “indictment,” as grand juries vote on whether or not adequate evidence exists to charge an individual with a crime, whereas trial juries convict or acquit following a trial.
Mr. Finley was put in touch with us by inmate Jeffery Douglas, who was introduced to us by inmate Walter Francis Fitzpatrick last spring. All three men are currently housed at the Northwest Correctional Complex (NWCX) in Tiptonville.
The attachments included with Finley’s most recent letter are hard copies of the following articles:
http://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2015/08/13/jury-says-metro-underpaid-jail-officers/31623547/
For those wishing to write to Mr. Finley, his address is:
Tracy T. Finley, #94531
NWCX
960 State Route 212
Tiptonville, TN 38079
Finley’s letter reads as follows:
