Home Page

The Knoxville Public Safety Collaborative helps high-risk offenders cope with addiction, poverty and other obstacles that make transition from prison to the community more difficult. The program has been credited with lowering recidivism through case-management and information-sharing.

In 1995 and 1996, the Knoxville Police Department and the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parolees met to discuss ways in which they could more effectively deal with returning prisoners and repeat offenders in the area. The Police Department and Board of Parolees wanted to enhance their coordination and collaboration capabilities with one another and with human service providers in the area. Citizen input indicated that repeat offenders and the disruptions they caused, were a problem that was not being addressed in an effective way.

back to top

Probation and Parole Facts

Nationally, there are over four million offenders being supervised in communities like ours. Nearly 600,000 felons are being released from prisons each year. 96% of all offenders sent to prison will be released to the streets at some time, so the problem is not going to go away.

Successful re-integration of serious and violent juvenile and adult offenders has long been a problem for law enforcement, corrections and community-corrections officials. These high-risk offenders very often disrupt public safety and order when they are released from correctional facilities.

As the number of offenders released to the community increases, the threat to public safety will also increase. According to a recent government report, some 6.6 million people are either in prison, on probation or on parole. Almost 4 million of those are on probation. More than 600,000 persons will be released from prison or juvenile facilities in the next year.

designed and
maintained by