Three years after cutting down its intensive probation program, the Department of Corrections is reviving community amendments as part of its final effort to keep offenders out of prison.

The state is bidding from the Tennessee probation program to resume supervision services to thousands of people on the brink of being sentenced to prison. Requests for proposals will be submitted by April 14th.

Dorinda Carter, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, declined to say whether the state was taking a new direction. The probation service agreement was set to expire and the bid was reissued to provide a “incarceration alternative.”

Gov. Bill Lee’s administration — despite an order from lawmakers to continue to modify the community for effectiveness — actually wrote a program that doesn’t exist in a request for proposals that require different guidelines. Vendors must provide a day-to-day reporting center, outpatient care, or residential facilities, with some people not ready to make such a shift.

Legislators also sent a strong message to the amendment officer at their August 2023 meeting that they wanted to update the program rather than moving all offenders to the state’s probation program. Lawmakers enacted the program in 1985 as a lasting effort to maintain those who are not eligible for regular probation from prison.

Sen. Ed Jackson, Republican Sen. Ed Jackson, has been working for three years to renew the program to enable the Madison County community amendment to once again serve probationers.

“Since they removed it in some counties across the state, they’ve all said we really need to get it back. It’s effective and good for us, some people get away from prison and they’re supervised locally instead of staying and having them do their jobs and going to correctional facilities,” Jackson said.