Letter from Mayor Strickland lays out concerns with Shelby County courts

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, outraged by what he calls the “revolving door” at the Shelby County Jail, fired off a letter to the major players in the local criminal justice system on Wednesday.

Strickland sent the letter to all the Shelby County Criminal Court judges, General Sessions Court judges, the judicial commissioners - the people who are appointed by the county commission to set bail in Shelby County - and to District Attorney Steve Mulroy.

The mayor repeated his familiar battle cry: the judicial system is broken and criminals, he said, have no reason to fear the law.

Strickland said low bonds and weak sentences are to blame. ”I’ve talked about quick justice and severe punishment,” Mayor Strickland told Action News 5. “That’s a deterrent.”

In the letter, the mayor cites multiple cases where suspects received no jail time for committing aggravated assault, including a July 2021 case where he said a man pulled a gun on a Memphis police officer and fired three shots. A plea deal was reached with no prison time for the suspect.

“I ask you to have zero tolerance for gun crime,” Strickland wrote to the judges. “I ask you to be transparent and open to the public.”

Mayor Strickland also wants bail-setting forms and judgments to be posted online.

The 14 judicial commissioners set bail under a reform program launched last month that now considers a defendant’s ability to pay, whether they’re a danger to the community, or a flight risk.

”They take their time going through these processes, constitutional and statutory considerations,” said Michael Burnett with the Shelby County Attorney’s Office, “and they want to make sure that they get it right so that society is better, Shelby County is better as a result of this.”

Judicial commissioners are appointed by the Shelby County Commission to help ease the workload of the elected judges.

”The job is stressful. It is high paced,” Commissioner Britney Thornton told Action News 5 in February, “I feel the role is necessary and I hope the appointments we make are making an impact.”

The mayor said Memphis police officers told him they are frustrated by having to arrest the same people over and over, but DA Mulroy disagrees that there’s a revolving door at 201 Poplar.

“Data from our own county suggests that it’s only a very, very tiny fraction of people who are released on bond who actually re-offend,” said Mulroy. “I see no reason why that should change going forward.”

You will find the judges’ names posted on Shelby County’s website, but you will not find the judicial commissioners’ names listed.

Action News 5 asked Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris’ staff last month if the website could be updated to include the people who are setting bail. 

We were told they would take the request into consideration.

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