Doing time
Let’s reassess the use of private prisons in Texas.
The effort to rein in costs at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice broadens the conversation about reducing the state prison population and the way inmates are housed.
Gov. Greg Abbott in June asked most state departments to submit budgets that reduce spending by 4 percent for the 2018-2019 biennium. TDCJ is looking for $214 million in reductions out of a $3 billion budget.
At the same time, review of the U.S. Justice Department’s plans to stop using private contractors to run federal prisons should serve as a prelude to lawmakers’ own discussions about targeted reductions, specifically in the area of private prisons.
State lawmakers and prison administrators must deal with at least two thorny issues: the use of private companies to house state inmates and how to reduce the Texas prison population, which has dropped in recent years but still is the country’s largest. Texas houses approximately 147,000 inmates in 109 prisons; according to Fusion.net, about 7 percent of the inmates are in 15 private prisons and jails.
In announcing its decision earlier this month, the Justice Department cited privately operated prisons as having a lower level of correctional service, programs and resources as well as safety and security. “The rehabilitative services that the (federal) Bureau provides, such as educational program and job training, have proved difficult to replicate and outsource — and these services are essential to reducing recidivism and improving public safety,” according to a DOJ memo.
If the same finding is true at private companies housing TDCJ inmates, then ending their management of state lockups should be an easy step.
Harder will be meeting the governor’s budget mandate without laying off guards or reducing key services. Reducing the inmate population is a logical measure.
TDCJ’s governing board has already approved shutdown of the downtown Houston 450-bed lockup for parole violators. And state Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, told the Chronicle’s Mike Ward that he plans to push for additional closures as an alternative to cutting guards and compromising health care and operations.
We urge lawmakers to consider strategies that do not compromise public safety. Solutions include not only shifting nonviolent drug offenders to supervision outside prison walls but also lawmakers need to allow, as Jennifer Erschabek, executive director of Texas Inmate Families Association recommends, prosecutorial and judicial discretion in sentencing and greater focus on rehabilitation of offenders. That in itself would open the door to easing pressure on the state prison system.