EDITORIAL: LOCKDOWN QUANDARY

At the same time a Justice Department report shows that violent crimes have
dropped 10 percent in the last year across America, Texans learn that their
prison system may soon have to give early release to convicted felons.

The Texas prison system is larger than those used in most nations thanks to
a multi billion-dollar prison building boom approved by Texas voters to
prevent the early release of prisoners.

Texans cannot afford the tax bills that will come from building more and
more prisons even as the Justice Department reports annual drops in crime.

Texas experienced a drop in crime after the state launched a huge prison
construction program in the 1990s. But other states experienced greater
crime decreases during the same period without undertaking a commensurate
prison-building program.

Texas has the highest incarceration rate of all states. It has more people
behind bars than any state, including states with much larger populations.

If Texas were still a republic, it would have an incarceration rate greater
than any other nation on earth. One in every 20 adults in Texas was
incarcerated during the past decade while Texas doubled the size of its
prison system and grew twice as fast as prison systems in other states.

Texas' judicial system is disproportionately harder on young African
Americans whose incarceration rate is 63 percent higher in Texas than the
national average and seven times the rate of white Texans. Nearly one in
three young black men in Texas is under the control of the criminal justice
system.

While African Americans represent only 12 percent of Texas' population,
they represent 44 percent of Texas prisoners. More than half of black Texas
prisoners are locked up for nonviolent crimes.

Texas' 114 prisons now are 97.3 percent full. By law, the parole board will
have to give early releases when the prisons reach 99 percent full.

The parole board should give early releases only to nonviolent prisoners.

Texas lawmakers should rethink the "lock-them-up-and-throw-away-the-key"
approach to punishment for nonviolent crimes.

Lawmakers also should add more rehabilitation programs in Texas prisons to
break the cycle of recidivism.

In addition, lawmakers should employ alternative sentencing for nonviolent
crimes that will teach job skills and break dependency on drugs and alcohol
that lead to many crimes.

Most importantly, Texas lawmakers and public officials must put more
emphasis on education, starting as early in life as possible.

If learning standards are high and Texas children can stay on track with
their education, communities will be strengthened, the quality of
individual lives will be raised and crime will be reduced. That's the best
way to reduce prison population.