Another side to Texas justice
As detailed here and here, the stories of Texas justice is pretty grim when considering capital punishment. But thanks to Scott Henson at Grits for Breakfast, I see from this encouraging Austin American Statesman article that there is another side to Texas justice. Here are some snippets from an article which provides another example of how tight budgets and the high costs of mass incarceration are forcing states to reconsider “tough on crime” policies:
These days [Texas state Representative Ray] Allen is among a growing list of key state leaders and officials who are arguing for more programs to benefit convicts — such as drug treatment, therapy and education in prisons as well as job placement, mentoring and re-entry initiatives once they get out. It is part of growing national trend, experts say, a stark contrast to the days of passing three-strikes laws, building more prisons and cutting programs in order to make the environment inside the lockups as punitive as possible.
“These wouldn’t have been things I’d have thought about or said back in those days,” said Allen, chairman of the House Corrections Committee, who earned the nickname “No Way, Ray” for his hard-line views on crime a decade ago. “Tight budgets have forced fiscal conservatives like myself to ask the same questions liberals were asking 10 years ago. We’re all at the same reality now on criminal justice, I think: We simply cannot afford to keep everyone behind bars.”
It costs Texans about $2 a day to keep a convict on probation, and $45 a day to keep him in prison, Allen said.
Signs of the slow shift in public policy are everywhere as lawmakers prepare to return to Austin in January.
Last spring, the Department of Criminal Justice created the Rehabilitation and Re-entry Programs Division to consolidate and better coordinate existing state and local initiatives to help the 60,000 inmates who leave Texas prisons each year. Top prison administrators are participating in a Travis County experiment establishing a community network to help ex-offenders. New programs are being offered for convicts who are leaving solitary confinement to return home.
Scott Henson provides more excerpts and commentary on this article and Texas justice here. And for just a few other recent examples of state officials expressing concerns about the high costs of mass incarceration, see: