Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope

On March 10th, the Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH) hosted a virtual town hall meeting to discuss the need for a conviction review unit (CRU) in Shelby County. A CRU “is charged with identifying and investigating past convictions for credible claims of actual innocence” according to the Nashville District Attorney’s Office, which currently houses the only CRU in Tennessee.

The event featured keynote speakers Sunny Eaton, the director of Nashville’s CRU, and William Arnold Jr., a Black man wrongfully convicted in 2013 who now uses his platform to advocate for criminal justice reform. Arnold spent nearly seven years incarcerated before the Court of Criminal Appeals overturned his conviction in 2020. The Nashville District Attorney’s office subsequently informed the judge presiding over Arnold’s case that it would be dismissed.

Janiece Lee, Vice President at MICAH, discussed how the implementation of a CRU in Shelby County would assist in holding the justice system accountable in terms of both previous rulings and future cases.

“In almost every field, there’s some kind of checks and balances,” Lee said. “Not only does [a CRU] help to ensure justice by looking backwards, but, by determining the things that happened to result in a wrongful conviction, [a CRU] can help prosecutors correct themselves in the future.”

William Arnold Jr. was a keynote speaker at the event. (Courtesy: MICAH)

Lee spoke on the role of the prosecutor as a professional who advocates for truth.

“I think we often forget that the prosecutor’s job is to seek justice and to seek truth,” Lee said. “A guilty verdict or a guilty plea does not mean we are done. If justice and truth means overturning a wrongful conviction or dismissing charges, then that is the responsibility of the prosecutor’s office.”

Lee mentioned that Shelby County incarcerates at a higher rate than any other county in Tennessee; she argues that this fact renders a Shelby County CRU a necessary resource.

“We incarcerate at a higher rate than any other county,” Lee said. “We should be a county that believes this is necessary. When your [District Attorney’s] office touches so many cases, mistakes are going to happen.”

MICAH has additional committees devoted to social justice. Ernie Hillard, Chair of the Race & Class Equity in the Justice System Task Force at MICAH, works, in part, to improve the lives of recently incarcerated citizens and was involved with the organization of the event.

“With the help of our legislators we have been able to put forward some legislation to pursue expungement of felony records,” Hillard said. “The current system often keeps them from getting employment; we would like to make [expungement] automatic when they complete their sentencing.”

During the town hall, Eaton emphasized that conviction review units are not important but critical to the ethical functioning of the judicial system, as they serve as essential mechanisms for self-accountability. Furthermore, Eaton noted that CRUs should be stationed with a District Attorney’s office for the facilitation of internal review.

Arnold, who was wrongfully incarcerated for nearly seven years of his life, described the CRU as a way to balance out the judicial system and to prevent the unlawful incarceration of both people of color and people of lower economic status.

After both keynote speakers presented, a Q&A followed in which Eaton and Arnold fielded questions posed by attendees. The event concluded with a call to action, which outlined how citizens can work toward making the vision of a Shelby County CRU a reality.

Among the avenues suggested was raising awareness by discussing the need for a CRU within their respective circles and communities. More importantly, citizens are encouraged to vote and support local politicians who are in favor of establishing a Shelby County CRU. Current Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich has expressed opposition to the creation of a CRU within her office.

Lee described the ultimate goal of any CRU as one aimed to restore the dignity of wrongfully convicted persons.

“We cannot make it right in a wrongful conviction,” Lee said. “But we can do everything we can to give [a wrongfully incarcerated person] their name back, their dignity back, their reputation back. And we cannot delay it.”

Facebook/MATA

The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) will receive a $2.5 million investment

from the county that will go toward implementing parts of the Transit Vision plan, including a transit on-demand model for two areas.

The Shelby County Commission voted 9-4 Monday in favor of a resolution sponsored by Commissioner Tami Sawyer to allocate the funds.

MATA CEO Gary Rosenfeld presented a spending plan for $2.5 million in capital improvement funds last week, which he says will be used to implement parts of the Transit Vision plan — a piece of the comprehensive Memphis 3.0 plan, the guiding document for how the city moves forward over the next several years.

“As we move to the next step in the evolution of this pandemic, we will be using the Transit Vision plan to re-tool the network as we come out of this,” Rosenfeld said. “This is kind of a positive outcome of the pandemic, if you will. We are able to move in the direction of starting to put the transit vision in place.”

Rosenfeld said the county’s $2.5 million will be invested in three projects. The first is a demand-response system for two areas, Boxtown/Westwood and the Downtown entertainment district.

Rosenfeld said in the Boxtown/Westwood area, the ridership count doesn’t suggest that there should be a complete fixed-route service. But the demand-response model will improve residents’ opportunity to get to public transportation and provide service in an efficient manner, Rosenfeld said.

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The model will work similar to Uber, allowing people to call in and get picked up at their house, transporting them anywhere within a certain zone or connecting them with the transit network.

In the entertainment district, MATA plans to provide a similar service. Rosenfeld said employees in this district often cannot catch a bus home because their shifts end long after the buses stop running. With the new service, employees in the district will be able to call in and be picked up and driven home.

Rosenfeld said the endeavor for both areas will require seven vehicles, which will cost a total of $500,000.

MATA also plans to put $1 million of the county’s investment into a mini transit center near Third and Brooks. Rosenfeld said the center will house four to five bays and will meet the need of new routes in the Transit Vision Plan.

Lastly, Rosenfeld said MATA will provide the local match portion for the $75 million Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, which is mostly funded by federal grants. The BRT would be a high-frequency route from Downtown to the University of Memphis.

Rosenfeld said all three areas of investment are “highly visible” and would “greatly enhance everyone’s access to public transit in the future.”

The Memphis Interfaith Coalition for Action and Hope (MICAH), which has long been advocating for more funding for MATA, commended the county commission’s decision to allocate the $2.5 million.

“Both now and as our regional economy begins to heal, our public transit system is critical,” said Ayana Watkins, executive director of MICAH. “It matters now for essential workers and residents who depend on public transit for food, supplies, and health care. And it will matter as we all begin returning to work and school en masse.”

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Samantha Bradshaw, co-chair of MICAH’s economic equity task force said the county’s investment is a “hopeful recognition that the county intends to keep transit a top priority to encourage a restored and more equitable local economy.”

“Memphis Transit 3.0 needs to keep on track to ensure the many Memphians who don’t have access to better paying jobs have an equal shot at a job that supports their families at a dignified level,” Bradshaw said.

MICAH also urges the city to reconsider its “drastic reduction” to MATA funding of $10 million, noting that public transportation has been underfunded for decades, “unable to maintain service levels from year to year, much less afford the needed upgrades to make it a truly viable system.”

Bradshaw encourages the city to prioritize funding for MATA so that “the planned improvements of Memphis Transit 3.0 can enable all residents to have equitable access to jobs, education, necessities, and the full scope of all this city and county has to offer.”