3 NEW PRISONS, MORE TREATMENT PROGRAMS ARE SOUGHT

Biggest Expansion In A Decade Proposed To Keep Pace With Convict
Growth

Prison officials said Friday that they want to build three prisons and
boost drug- and alcohol-treatment programs in the biggest proposed
expansion of Texas corrections programs in more than a decade.

Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice, said the $520 million plan part of a $5.6 billion,
two-year budget being sought by the prisons agency is designed to
keep pace with steadily growing numbers of prisoners that will require
more than 11,000 additional prison beds in five years, according to
official estimates.

"This is a multipronged approach designed to allow us to keep up with
the growth that is currently projected," he said. "In addition to hard
beds (prisons), we're requesting additional funding for treatment and
diversion programs."

The request comes as all state agencies begin crafting their requests
for the 2008-09 budget, which begins in September 2007. State parks
officials also submitted a budget request Friday that could lead to
more cutbacks at parks.

Texas tripled the size of its prison system in the early 1990s to keep
up with growing numbers of convicts that, at one point, required more
than 30,000 prison-bound felons to be housed in county jails.

Since then, several thousand additional beds have been added in
several small projects that increased the system to a capacity of
about 152,000 beds.

Drug treatment and community programs were also expanded, though
funding to some of those programs has been scaled back in recent years
because of budget cuts made by the Legislature.

In recent weeks, as details of the new expansion plans leaked out,
Senate and House leaders questioned whether building prisons is the
answer.

Instead, they backed more treatment and community-based corrections
programs that are much cheaper to operate. Citing a continuing
shortage of guards, they also questioned whether enough workers can be
found to properly staff new prisons.

Livingston said Friday that public safety remains the priority. He
noted that the proposed budget, which must be approved next spring by
the Legislature, seeks a 3-percent pay raise for prison employees that
could help the hiring problems when coupled with a similar raise
workers will get next month.

State agencies have been asked to submit budget requests that are 10
percent less than their current budget. In their budget proposal,
prison officials warned, however, that cuts would result in varied
problems.

If the 10 percent cuts are implemented, the Parks and Wildlife
Department's budget would fall $14.21 million for each of the next two
years.

Dozens of state parks would be forced to cut services and hours of
operation and several parks could close, the department said. Law
enforcement, the local parks grant program and wildlife research would
also be affected. In addition to asking that the state not follow
through on the proposed budget cuts, the department's wish list
included more money for game wardens, repairs to the battleship Texas
in La Porte and restoring the Texas State Railroad, a historic
railroad slated to become a museum because of high maintenance costs.

Joseph B.C. Fitzsimons, chairman of the board of the Parks and
Wildlife Commissioners, told budget officials that paying for state
parks is essential to their future.

"Will the Texas school children of tomorrow only know about our open
spaces by seeing pictures in a book or images on a screen?" he wrote.
"Texas is supposed to be different, and one of the things that make us
different is our relationship to the land. That relationship will be
lost if we do not provide great parks for a great state."

The state has fallen behind in recent years in its ability to pay for
park operations and upkeep. The condition of Texas parks and proposals
to shift more money to them have become key issues in this year's
governor's race.

More prisons

2,750-bed prison

1,330-bed prison

1,000-bed privately run prison, with 500 beds for a DWI treatment
center

More treatment programs

250 additional beds in special drug-treatment prisons

200 additional beds in substance-abuse treatment centers for
parole-bound convicts

150 additional beds in private halfway houses

250 additional beds in community-based specialized-treatment programs
designed to get low-level offenders the help they need without sending
them to a state prison

More money for health care

$122 million to avoid a deficit in prison health care
operations

$434 million a year to pay for operating expenses

Source: Texas Board of Criminal Justice,

Legislative Appropriations Request