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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.