LAWMAKER LAUDS PRIVATIZED PRISONS

Some of our state lawmakers want to turn over another major chunk of the
state's correctional facilities to be run by private corporations.

State Rep. Ray Allen, R-Grand Prairie, chairman of the House Corrections
Committee and sponsor of the bill to privatize more state cells, told me he
is convinced the measure would save the state money. He is convinced
private companies can run prisons more efficiently and make a tidy private
profit while saving the state some money.

Critics say if there is any actual cost savings in privatizing prisons it
comes at the expense of security and safety. They say lower wages and
benefits result in high turnover rates and a staff that is less qualified,
with supervisors who are generally less experienced than those in state
prisons.

After a pleasant chat with Allen Tuesday morning, I called his office back
late afternoon to ask whether he had any financial connection to the prison
industry. Since he was out, I spoke with Allen's chief of staff, Scott Gilmore.

'No conflict of interest' Gilmore said that, yes, Allen has received
campaign donations from private prison companies, all duly recorded and
reported in accordance with all the applicable rules and regulations. Many
other lawmakers have also received donations from private prison companies,
he said.

Also, Gilmore said he works with Allen's consulting company, and they do
consulting and marketing work in other states for some prison industry
companies, and they also do some lobbying in Congress, but they don't do
any consulting or marketing or lobbying in Texas.

"We've gone to great lengths," Gilmore said, to make sure there's no
conflict of interest. He said it's been run past the Texas Ethics
Commission and is "completely legal."

A check of Chronicle files turned up a story that ran eight years ago when
Allen was co-sponsor of the bill allowing Texans to carry concealed
weapons. He was chairman of the House subcommittee and the House-Senate
conference committee appointed to hear the bill, which was later signed
into law by Gov. George W. Bush. It requires those wanting to carry
concealed handguns to take a firearms training course.

Allen recognized an opportunity and opened a firing range and firearms
training facility in Grand Prairie. Again, completely legal.

Our state already leads the nation in the number of folks we lock up, and
our town leads the state. In fact, Allen and other lawmakers have pointed
out that fully half the folks now doing time in our state jails are from
Houston.

Allen said that is one reason he authored a bill to place offenders caught
with less than an ounce of a controlled substance in a treatment program
rather than in the prison system.

While some of us don't like his idea of turning over state jail operations
to for-profit companies, we do like the idea of treatment programs instead
of prison.

And while our lawmakers are confronting the prison population and budget
problems, some of us wish they could figure out a quick and efficient way
to identify and release all who don't belong in prison.

For example, we have 13 people from Tulia still locked up after spending
about four years behind bars, despite a judge's recent recommendation that
their convictions be overturned. The undercover cop whose testimony in
those cases was determined to be unreliable (and who has since been
indicted on three counts of aggravated perjury) was responsible for
numerous other convictions elsewhere in the state.

Legislation for fairness We don't know how many dozens or hundreds or
thousands more have been convicted because of bad evidence or tainted
testimony coming out of Houston's police crime lab, or as a result of other
crises in criminal justice credibility that have occurred in other towns
and cities.

How about a bill to provide some means of quickly identifying all the
people who have been put in prison unjustly as a result of these scandals?

A bill that would ensure everyone gets a fair shake any time bad evidence
or tainted testimony is uncovered.

A bill that would cut through the appeals court red tape and set them free
without delay, without further state expense and without profit for private
prisons.