Texas
Articles
02/08/2008 – San Antonio Express-News: “Suggestions Given for Overflowing Prisons”, by Lomi Kriel and Elizabeth Allen
“Although the state’s prison and jail systems have long complained of overcrowding, the situation has become dire, as there are not enough prisons or jails to house those who are arrested every day. And even if there were, experts said, the systems are woefully understaffed for the volume.”
01/11/2008 – Austin-American Statesmen: “Speeding Release of Parolees Could Ease Prison Guard Shortage, Lawmakers Say”, by Mike Ward
“As Texas’ prison system struggles with an acute shortage of guards, two legislative leaders called Thursday for a review of whether thousands of convicts who have been approved for parole but still are awaiting release could be let go to ease the crisis.”
11/23/2007 – The New York Times: “Trying To Break Cycle of Prison at Street Level”, by Solomon Moore
“Last year, 32,585 prisoners were released on state parole in Texas, and many of them returned to neighborhoods where they live among thousands of other parolees and probationers.”
10/10/2007 – KHOU: “The Ex-Cons Next Door”, by Dave Fehling
” New research tracked where inmates go to live after they leave prison. Turns out, they don’t just disperse all over Houston. They end up in several specific neighborhoods.”
7/18/2007 – Houston Chronicle: “Smart on Crime“
“Texas has taken a giant step toward providing treatment to all in the state criminal justice system who need it. A major influx of new funding in the last legislative session, $205 million for the biennium, will double the capacity of the system to treat inmates, probationers and parolees.”
7/2/2007 – The New York Times: “A Much-Needed Second Chance“
“Congress needs to pass the Second Chance Act, which would provide grants, guidance and assistance to states and localities that are developing programs to reintegrate former inmates into their communities.”
6/18/2007 – Stateline.org: “States Seek Alternatives to More Prisons”, by John Gramlich
“In Texas, which houses 153,000 prisoners, the Legislature recently approved a plan that lawmakers have characterized as one of the most significant changes in corrections in a decade. The package, part of the state budget awaiting Republican Gov. Rick Perry’s approval, would divert thousands of inmates from prison to rehabilitation facilities, where beds would free up twice a year as offenders get help and re-enter society.”
6/13/2007 – Waco Tribune: “Editorial: Texas Lawmakers Send Mixed Message on Penal Reform”
“They would do so by moving low-level offenders into supervised community programs and by bolstering substance-abuse programs to free up beds now filled by minor drug and alcohol offenders. Nevertheless, lawmakers went ahead and authorized three new prisons, but only if the Legislative Budget Board deems them necessary. “
5/23/2007 – Austin American Statesmen: “Editorial: Prison Reform as Method“
“The Texas Legislature appears well on its way toward enacting significant and welcome change to meet society’s obligation and need to punish lawbreakers without breaking the treasury and turning minor offenders into major criminals.”
5/22/2007 – Austin American Statesmen: “Parole, Rehab Proposal Gets House Support”, by Mike Ward
A linchpin of the most significant changes in Texas’ criminal justice system in more than a decade was approved Monday by the Texas House, including a new legislative panel to monitor whether rehabilitation reforms are working.
3/31/2007 – Houston Chronicle: “Texas Crowding ‘Crisis’ is Self-Made”, by Richard Watkins
“AFTER decades of hard experience, experts have finally figured out that simply putting lots of petty criminals in prison for long terms is exorbitantly costly and mostly ineffective in reducing crime.”
3/31/2007 – Houston Chronicle: “Audit: Prison rehab process failing / Report calls routing methods ineffective, likely contributor to overcrowding issue”, by Polly Ross Hughes
“Texas prison and parole officers are using inefficient methods for routing felons into rehabilitation programs, and their lack of coordination could be contributing to prison overcrowding, a report released Friday shows.”
3/19/2007 – Star-Telegram: “Probation Overhaul Meets Resistance”, by Anthony Spangler
“Legislation meant to head off prison overcrowding in Texas by cutting short terms for well-behaved probationers has raised the ire of victims’ rights advocates and lacks the support of some prosecutors. “
3/17/2007 – Austin-American Statesmen: “Harrell: Putting Prisoners First”, by Will Harrell
“Though the Whitmire and Madden’s proposal is valuable, we must remember not to leave recidivism out of the prison conversation. By supporting and cultivating programs like Ready4Work in Texas, we can make real progress.”
2/27/2007 – The Beaumont Enterprise: “Debate Over Prison Funding Heats Up”, by Ryan Myers
“Despite an overflowing Texas prison population and talk in the Texas Legislature this session of more prisons, prospects for a new facility in Southeast Texas are poor, lawmakers said this past week.”
2/19/2007 – El Paso Times: “Alternatives Sought to Relieve Prison Overcrowding”, by Mark Muecke
“With prisons statewide nearly brim-full, lawmakers are growing weary of shelling out more money to just contain them.”
2/15/2007 – Austin-American Statesmen: “Report: Prisons Set to Swell in Next Five Years”, by Gerry Smith
“Prison populations will grow 13 percent over the next five years, triple the expected U.S. population growth rate during that time, and will cost an additional $27.5 billion, a report released Wednesday projected.”
2/09/2007 – Austin American Statesmen: “Lawmakers Locking in Prison Policy Changes”, by Mike Ward
“Billed as the biggest shift in Texas corrections policy in years, proposals to greatly expand rehabilitation and treatment for convicts have made headlines for months as legislative leaders grapple for a way to avoid building expensive new prisons.”
2/06/2007 – The Dallas Morning News: “Dallas Has 3 Months to Fix Jail”, by Kevin Krause
“Dallas County officials soon may have to shut the doors to their crowded and understaffed jail and pay millions of dollars to send inmates to other counties if they can’t get the inmate population under control.”
2/06/2007 – Austin American Statesmen: “Probation Department Returns $25 Million to State Coffers”, by Mike Ward
“At a time when legislative leaders are pushing for tens of millions in additional funding for local probation programs comes this: Nearly $25 million in state probation money went unspent last year.”
2/06/2007 – Waco Tribune: “Editorial: Texas prisons need more treatment programs”
Texas lawmakers need to come up with alternatives to the politically popular “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” approach to criminal justice.
2/05/2007 – Houston Chronicle: “Prison Break: State Sen. John Whitmire and Rep. Jerry Madden propose a plan to end the prison building binge”
The evidence has built for years. Judges see the same low-level suspects over and over; nonviolent offenders languish behind bars while predators are freed; Texas spends $2.5 billion annually on the nation’s second-largest prison system – one already out of beds.
1/31/2007 – Austin-American Statesmen: “Report identifies prison problems before a historic joint hearing” by Mike Ward
The state’s criminal justice system came under intense criticism Tuesday as legislative leaders made clear that business as usual – building prisons every few years – will no longer be a solution to an increasing shortage of cells and operating problems.
1/31/2007 – Abilene Reporter News: “Lawmakers explore solving prison crunch” by Associated Press
With Texas prisons running out of space and officials asking for as many as 5,000 more beds, lawmakers are trying to make more room for violent offenders without costly new construction.
1/31/2007 – The Daily Texan: “Texas lawmakers consider shift in prison philosophy” by Saul Elbein
At a joint hearing at the Capitol Tuesday, Whitmire, the Senate Criminal Justice chairman, and Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, the House Corrections chairman, laid out an alternative to building more prisons. The plan is to focus on treatment for non-violent and minor drug offenders, rather than sending them directly to prison.
1/31/2007 – Star-Telegram: “Legislators Are Urged to Shift Focus on Prisons”, by John Mortiz
“If Texas would parole more low-risk, nonviolent inmates and provide more services to discourage their use of drugs and alcohol, the state could save half a billion dollars over the next five years and avoid the prospect of adding 17,000 prison beds by 2012, a criminal justice analyst told lawmakers Tuesday.”
1/30/2007 – Star-Telegram: “Lawmakers look for new ways to handle prison crunch” by Jim Vertuno
With Texas prisons running out of space and officials asking for as many as 5,000 more beds, lawmakers are trying to make more room for violent offenders without costly new construction.
1/30/2007 – Houston Chronicle: “New prison policies could save millions” by Polly Ross Huges
More drug and alcohol treatment and fewer new prison cells could save Texas $442 million over the next five years, a new study shows.
1/30/2007 – Houston Chronicle: “Report: Texas needs fewer prisons, more treatment options” by Polly Ross Hughes
“The Texas prison system is full and predicted to be out of capacity if we do not change policies,” said Tony Fabelo, once director of the former Criminal Justice Policy Council.
1/30/2007 – Tyler Morning Telegraph: “Alternatives for prisons in discussion” by Staff, Wire Reports
Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chairman of the Senate panel, has urged lawmakers to consider other options for low-level drug offenders and low-risk parole violators.
1/29/2007 – Austin-American Statesmen: “Study Says Policy Changes Could Alleviate Need for More Prisons”, by Mike Ward
Providing additional prison treatment programs and paroling offenders according to longstanding release guidelines would allow Texas to avoid building prisons, a new study reveals. The analysis by the Justice Center of the Council of State Governments, to be made public Tuesday at a joint meeting of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee and the House Corrections Committee, said that Texas would have just 151,817 convicts in prison by 2012 – fewer than are currently serving time in the state’s near-capacity prisons – if it opts for two changes in policy.
1/25/2007 – Dallas Morning News: “Dewhurst says Texas needs more prisons” by Associated Press
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said Texas will probably need to build prisons holding at least 4,000 new beds, a move requested by state prison officials but questioned by some key lawmakers.
1/24/2207 – The Houston Chronicle: “Lt. Gov. Dewhurst Calling for More Prisons”, by Polly Ross Hughes
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst said Wednesday that Texas needs 5,000 new prison beds, a view at odds with a major report that key lawmakers will release next week that will stress treatment programs and prison alternatives.
“We respect the lieutenant governor, but we respectfully disagree with him on this one if he’s talking about building maximum security facilities,” said Rep. Jerry Madden, R-Plano, chairman of the House Corrections Committee.
1/23/2007 – Austin-American Statesmen: “Criminal justice leaders push home nurses, anger management to help trim crime” by Mike Ward
Legislators who are spearheading the proposals admit they are a change of direction for Texas criminal justice, but they say such programs are more likely to cut recidivism and crime rates than building more prisons.
1/12/2007 – Austin-American Statesmen: “Perry: Weigh Prison Alternatives, With Limits”
“Gov. Rick Perry has agreed that prison alternative programs deserve to be considered by the Legislature, just as long as violent felons stay locked up.”
1/11/2007 – The Dallas Morning News: “Prison Revamp Long on Rehabilitation, Short on New Cells”
“Texas lawmakers on an influential state commission formally recommended an overhaul of the prison rehabilitation, probation and parole systems Wednesday, hoping to reduce crowding without building new units.”
1/11/2007 – Austin-American Statesmen: “Prison Chief Supports More Rehabilitation Programs”, by Mike Ward
Texas criminal justice czar Brad Livingston says he wholeheartedly supports a legislative move to drastically expand rehabilitation and treatment programs for convicts.
And he supports the idea to re-establish a new entity to track criminal justice trends, as well.
1/08/2007 – Waco Tribune: “Editorial: Oops, Texas Prisons Full Again”
“It’s time for Texas lawmakers to reduce the prison population without endangering the public, with a beefed-up probation system, modern rehabilitation programs, improved drug treatment programs and alternative sentencing options.”
1/06/2007 – Austin American Statesmen: “Prisoner Rehab May Get Boost”, by Mike Ward
“State Senate and House leaders are close to agreement on the details of a substantive reform plan for Texas’ crowded prison system that would allot nearly $150 million for expanded treatment and supervision programs, officials have confirmed. Those projects would be far less costly than building new lockups, they said.”
1/04/2007 – Dallas Morning News: “‘Smart’ approach to prisons sought” by Emily Ramshaw
Texas prisons are packed, and state corrections officials are urging the Legislature to build three units. But traditionally tough-on-crime lawmakers appear ready to take a different approach – rehabilitation.
12/31/2006 – Austin American Statesmen: “Editorial: Be Sure New Prisons are Needed Before Building”
“Texas might need more prisons, as the Texas Department of Criminal Justice says. But it might not need three more now, as the department says. If more low-risk prisoners who are eligible for parole were released, Texans could save hundreds of millions of dollars in incarceration costs.”
12/14/2006 – Austin-American Statesmen: “The engine that drives Texas” by Editorial Board
In a similar way, the state is regaining some of the services of Tony Fabelo, 50. Until 2003, Fabelo was director of the Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council, whose staff of about 25 provided state leaders with objective, in-depth analyses of crime rates, prisons, probation and parole systems, sentencing, rehabilitation programs and other aspects of one of the state’s most important duties: ensuring law and order.
12/11/2006 – Austin-American Statesmen: “Perry Plans To Resurrect Tracking Of Criminal Justice Trends In Texas”, by Mike Ward
In the latest signal that prison reforms are a top state priority, Gov. Rick Perry plans to establish a new office to analyze criminal justice statistics and trends in Texas for the first time in nearly four years, officials confirmed today.
The new Statistical Analysis Center would do much of what the Criminal Justice Policy Council did before Perry vetoed its appropriation in 2003 – without the policy part, Perry aides said.