Pubdate: Tue, 29 Aug 2000
Source: Longview News-Journal (TX)
Copyright: 2000sCox Interactive Media
Contact:  P.O. Box 1792, Longview, TX 75605
Fax: 903.757.3742
Website: http://www.news-journal.com/index.html

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Time To Rethink Criminal Justice System

In the a "get tough on criminals" movement of this decade, ithas come to 
the point that Texas taxpayers may be the people being held hostage to the 
criminal justice system.

The Texas Board of Criminal Justice is going to ask the Legislature to put 
a bond issue before voters that would build three new maximum security 
prisons for $544 million, and provide $86 million to improve existing 
facilities. That would be enough to house another 8,500 people.

In addition, the board wants another $17.4 million for 1,000 new beds in 
facilities such as halfway houses and to expand the electronic monitoring 
program. Projections are that by mid-2005, Texas will need another 14,600 
beds to hold that many more inmates.

This proposal for $630 million more comes on the heels of the 1997, program 
to build prisons for 94,000 criminals at a cost of $1.7 billion. Texas now 
has enough cells to house 153,719 people in 116 prisons and jails - and 
again overcrowding is becoming a problem.

But that's not all. The board also wants more than $80 million per year 
starting in fiscal 2002 for salary increases for guards and other prison 
staff. Texas has about 28,000 guards. Earlier this year, state officials 
estimated guards levels were about 1,700 short of what has been approved by 
the Legislature.

The board's proposal for prison employee pay raises is much needed. 
Certainly, our prison system needs a trained, motivated staff to operate 
the system. Gov. George W. Bush recognized the need and approved a pay 
raise in May that provided up to $1,656 per year for some corrections 
officers, but the interim increase will expire on August 31, 2001, if 
lawmakers don't extend it.

Still, Texas should be looking for other solutions. The key to preventing 
crime is education, but that's not the only answer. State Sen. Bill 
Ratliff, R-Mount Pleasant previously told the Longview News-Journal that he 
had expressed concerns to prison officials over the rigid anti-parole 
policies. Apparently, they have listened.

The annual parole rate in the early 1990s was called the a "revolvingdoor" 
because prisoners had to be released because of overcrowding. With the 
prison construction boom and tougher laws, it has hovered at about 20 percent.

In July, the rate climbed to 28.7 percent as the board approved 1,538 of 
the 5,363 cases it reviewed. Through July, 13,513 convicts had been 
approved for parole this year, a rate just under 22 percent. The increase 
in paroles granted have primarly been nonviolent offenders.

Now, some people feel the sentences for nonviolent offenders may be too 
lengthy and that new probation programs and revisions in the way offenders 
are paroled could help.

We're not suggesting a return to the early 1990s, but it's not being soft 
on crime to ask whether there are better ways, and whether we are putting 
enough money into programs that help prevent crimes. It's time to rethink 
the criminal justice system.
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