Bill Haslam met Cyntoia Brown in prison. He left feeling 'even better' about granting her clemency.

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Bill Haslam was a private citizen. It had been four months since he left his post as Tennessee's governor.

But he felt compelled to quietly revisit one of the most intense chapters of his term, and to meet the person whose name loomed large over his final days as a public servant.

So, on May 20 he and his wife Crissy walked past the barbed wire gates outside the Tennessee Prison for Women.

Inside, Cyntoia Brown greeted them with hugs and a simple message: "I'm not going to let you down."

'I just wanted to go meet her as a person' 

Brown was 16 in 2004 when she shot 43-year-old real estate agent Johnny Allen in the back of the head while he was lying in bed beside her. She was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison — state law dictated that she would not be eligible for parole for at least 51 years.

But Haslam intervened in January amid heightened scrutiny of the case, saying the penalty had been too harsh.

He granted her request for mercy and ordered her released on parole. She will walk out of prison Wednesday, 15 years after the deadly shooting.

In an exclusive interview with the Paste BN Network – Tennessee about a week before Brown was set to go free, Haslam discussed that decision and his desire to meet Brown, now 31, in person.

He described a kind of kinship, saying he and Brown shared the experience of being at the center of a national story that drew more attention than anything else during his eight years as governor.

"Our lives have kind of been woven together at this point. God used the circumstances of her life and our life to bring us together in what was a fairly significant way," Haslam said. "I just wanted to go meet her as a person."

The Haslams spent about an hour with Brown that day, and left with a copy of her diploma from Lipscomb University that she gave to them. 

"It was a great visit. We left really encouraged," Haslam said.

"When I got in the car, Crissy said, 'How do you feel?,'" he recalled. "I said, 'Even better than I did before.'"

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'Society will be better with Cyntoia out of prison'

Brown has become a prominent figure in the national debate on criminal justice reform, attracting attention from activists and A-list celebrities. Her supporters say she was a victim of child sex trafficking who was forced into prostitution by an abusive boyfriend.

High-powered lawyers took her case, arguing her life sentence should be reconsidered by the courts or the governor. Haslam's office was inundated by calls, emails and social media messages.

Protesters met him at events and demanded mercy for Brown. Acquaintances in Tennessee and around the nation reached out, urging him to take action.

The victim's family pushed back, saying Brown's supporters were misrepresenting the facts of the case and smearing their loved one. The Metro police detective who led the investigation said Brown killed the man to rob him.

Haslam said he tried to tune out the deluge.

Instead, he said his decision to grant Brown freedom was rooted in the state's evolving approach to juvenile justice, a deeper understanding of Brown's troubled background and her remarkable transformation behind bars.

"She, in her own words, did something horrible. She made a really bad decision as a very young woman," Haslam said. But he pointed to "mitigating factors," primarily her forced involvement in prostitution, that laid the groundwork for his decision.

Feedback from judges and prosecutors, who said Brown would not have gotten a life sentence if her trial took place now, also played a key role. And Brown's life behind bars, where she earned her GED and two college degrees, made a compelling case for mercy.

"We want to believe that incarceration works," Haslam said. "Everybody I talked to said, in her case, that that had happened. ...

"Almost without exception, the people I talked to said society will be better with Cyntoia out of prison than it is with her in prison."

Ultimately, Haslam agreed.

'There are other Cyntoias'

Delving into Brown's case brought a broad, systemic trend to light. As Haslam was leaving office, there were at least 184 other people in Tennessee who are serving sentences of life or life without parole for crimes they committed as juveniles.

"Cyntoia's case got all this publicity, but there are other Cyntoias," Haslam said. "I have become convinced that in our judicial system, we put people away, particularly young people away, for too long."

Because Haslam waited to issue pardons and commutations until the final months of his term, his team didn't have time to launch a wider review of other juvenile offenders who might have deserved a similar second chance.

"I'm pretty convinced that if we went and dug through those, we could find some number — I don't know if it's five or 50 — who would say that they deserve the same consideration," he said.

It was a source of personal conflict during his waning days in office. 

"I had that sense of, 'Was that fair to save this one and not save all the ones that might have the same circumstance?'" Haslam said.

But he said helping Brown, and shedding light on the issue, seemed better than doing nothing.

In hindsight, Haslam said, he would have staggered clemency decisions throughout his eight years, allowing more time to review emerging issues. He shared that regret with current Gov. Bill Lee.

In a statement, Lee spokeswoman Laine Arnold said the governor "believes granting clemency is a deeply thoughtful endeavor that requires devoting significant time to reviewing the facts and circumstances of each case and plans to do so throughout his time in office."

Haslam said he was hopeful Lee's administration would continue to review sentencing for juveniles.

Arnold said Lee's administration was "reviewing all aspects of the juvenile justice system in Tennessee." That ongoing review includes juvenile sentencing, she said, adding that the administration was "also looking to improve intervention efforts to reduce the number of juveniles entering the justice system."

Brown seems poised to be a powerful advocate for those kinds of policy changes.

'Looking forward to seeing her again'

Days before her scheduled release, Haslam was optimistic that Brown would find success as a free adult. He said her "pure smarts" and charisma would give her the opportunity to encourage and advocate for others.

"Looking forward to seeing her again," he said, "I'm sure we will. I'm sure we will."

Until then, she won't be far from his mind.

The Haslams have their copy of her Lipscomb diploma sitting on a bookshelf at home.

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Reach Adam Tamburin at 615-726-5986 and atamburin@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @tamburintweets.