Nashville, February 20, 1997 -- Thirty-fourth district
State Representative Mark Goins said today that three key bills
in his legislative agenda have passed the first two readings and
are headed for House Committees for hearings there. Goins filed
the legislation to force state prisoners to work on chain gangs
and take away their weight lifting privileges his first day in
office, fulfilling his promise to voters.
The first bill would mandate the state Department of Corrections
put in place a program that would require prisoners to work on
chain gangs. "It's time we put an end to the free ride for
our state prisoners. There is plenty of litter on our roads in
Tennessee, and we should be using prisoners to pick it up."
said Goins.
The second bill Goins filed would end weight lifting privileges
for state prisoners. "That bill would keep those prisoners
who can bench press 100 lbs. going in, from coming out being able
to bench press 300 lbs.," Goins continued. "We are
presently, at taxpayer's expense, making criminals bigger, stronger
and faster, and then putting them back on the streets to do battle
with police and terrorize our citizens."
Goins' third bill seeks to prohibit the state Corrections
Department from purchasing weight lifting equipment. "As
a taxpayer I cannot afford, nor do I have time to work out with
weight lifting equipment. It's a shame that taxpayer dollars
are being used to give criminals more rights than we have as law
abiding citizens. It's time we stop coddling those who terrorize
our communities and concentrate instead on justice for their victims,"
Goins concluded.
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