Reported by Jeremy Finley

E-mail: jfinley@wsmv.com

It is no secret some areas of town have more criminal activity than others. But Channel 4 News has found convicted criminals living in large numbers in certain zip codes in Davidson County. It is possible that some felons have no other choice but to live there.  Criminal experts say these zip codes are trapped in a cycle of violence.

LIST: Number of Parolees by Zip Code in Davidson Co. 

Chances are you either live in these neighborhoods or have driven by them. These are neighborhoods where many convicted criminals who are straight out of prison choose to call home.

Police refer to the areas as prison zip codes because they are "hot spots" for high crime and violence.

When looking at the convictions of the parolees that are listed in records from the state parole board, some zip codes only have two parolees living there while others have hundreds. It won't surprise you these so called "prison zip codes" are areas of town typically high in crime.

You may be surprised to learn every zip code in Davidson County has at least one parolee living there.

The zip code with the highest number of convicted criminals as residents in Nashville is 37207. There are more than 200 convicted criminals in this zip code including convicted murderers, rapists, and drug dealers.

Sam McCullough lives in the 37207 zip code. The neighborhood is just minutes from downtown and sandwiched between the Cumberland River and Ellington Parkway. Channel 4 News showed McCullough, who is community activist, how many parolees live in his zip code.

“Right now this makes you want to go and increase your security system on your home," he said.

Why are so many parolees here? The state didn't place them here. They choose to live here. Unless they're sex offenders or the parole board makes stipulations, parolees can live wherever they want.

Felons know when they leave prison their options can be limited. Many apartment complexes in Nashville won't allow felons to live there so they seek out cheaper housing near to their families -- often in already troubled neighborhoods. In Tennessee, according to the parole board, 25 percent of parolees re-offend.

"None of our parole officers want to have someone released from prison re-offending. Unfortunately there's about 1/4 of them that doesn't take advantage of that second chance," said Jack Elder, Probations and Parole.

Research indicates exposing parolees to the environment of crime and drugs in these zip codes only creates a cycle of violence. McCullough believes that is hurting his neighborhood and needs to be brought to the attention of someone.

“Is it fair to these neighborhoods?" asked Channel 4 News. “I don't know if I can answer that…we just want to make sure that we can deal with these on a case by case basis and we want them to go to a place where they have a reasonable chance can succeed," said Elder.

Elder also points out most parolees in Tennessee don't re-offend and probation officers work everyday to keep parolees on the straight path. But he admits Channel 4’s findings are worth investigating.

As for how dangerous some of these parolees are, the parole board says it's on a case by case basis. Police say it is not unusual to arrest a parolee.

There is another potentially disturbing part of this story involving health risks in these prison zip codes. Watch Tuesday night on Channel 4 News at 10:00 for this story.

Number of Parolees by Zip Code in Davidson Co.

  Zip Code                                                            # of Parolees