Viewpoints

Texas-Style Tulia Justice

WHERE DOES BUCK STOP?

I am a native Texan, a white, conservative professional who is not easily
moved to the side of sympathy for the criminal. However, for two years I
have looked closely at Texas' system of justice and it is broken. If it
were a machine operating in a refinery or chemical plant, the public would
insist that it be shut down and completely dismantled.

The latest evidence of the system's breakdown is represented by the
situation faced by the residents of Tulia, Texas [where 13 residents are
still serving time after being arrested in a controversial drug bust four
years ago]. If there was only a single conviction in Tulia (or three or
four), these small voices would never be heard. They would be locked up and
forgotten, case closed. Guilt or innocence would have little to do with it.

Learning about our prison system, how it operates and the conditions facing
inmates and staff, I have discovered the absolute futility of sending
someone to prison. Chaining a bad dog to a tree only to let him go years
later to be an angry bad dog is bad enough. But to send an innocent person
into this purgatory is unconscionable. Prison is a terrible place to exist.
To have allowed these citizens of Tulia to languish even one minute under
the conditions found in Texas prisons is a crime.

It is terrible that no one person in Texas has the power to say, "This is a
wrong that will be corrected now," not even the governor. Instead, to save
these obvious victims, we must put our faith in a Legislature that can't
even stick around to conduct its business. Where in Texas does the "buck"
stop? Where is justice? Without justice, laws are meaningless.

William G. Wright, El Lago