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It's pretty amazing how much the prison industrial complex controls this country.
TDCJ has a problem with prison undercrowding. Who knew? I sure didn't. It's absolutely ridiculous that there's a fight about closing prisons we don't need when there are so many other areas such as education, roads and water that legitimately need some extra bucks thrown their way.
Legislators Spar Over Downsizing Prisons/nXXDx/
By Mike Ward
American-Statesman Staff
A group of fiscally conservative Republican House members is pushing to keep open two prisons the state might not need, and they want to buy another one for which there are no convicts.
Leading the charge against the plan are Democratic legislators who are loudly complaining about pork-barrel spending.
At issue is whether the state, with 12,000 empty prison beds and a prisoner population that’s continuing to decline, should close lockups in Mineral Wells and Dallas to save money. And, separately, should the state buy an 1,100-bed lockup it encouraged Jones County to build before the prison population began declining?
Supporters of those moves cite extenuating cir stances: jobs, economic development, contingency planning, state contractual obligations and not wishing to micromanage a state agency.
Critics say none of that trumps the bottom line for taxpayers.
“This is the ultimate earmark, no different than what people rebelled about with Washington,” said state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, who, as chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, is the leading opponent. “It just makes no sense.”
House and Senate budget negotiators will have to wrestle with the prison closures, recommended by the Senate but not by the House. And on Friday, the House is scheduled to vote on a supplemental budget bill that would spend $19.5 million to buy the Jones County lockup located north of Abilene.
State Rep. Susan King, an Abilene Republican who represents Jones County, has pushed for the purchase. “This was an agreement the state made, and it was broken,” she said at a recent House hearing. “It’s unprecedented. … Now we’re looking at a county that has made no payments on this building; they’re in financial distress over it.”
Lawmakers have faced intense lobbying from Jones County officials who, with private interests, built the lockup with the expectation that the state would send prisoners there. But the state canceled the contract in 2010 before the first prisoner arrived. It has sat unused ever since.
House Corrections Committee Chairman Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, and other House supporters of the purchase note that the state would be getting a new $35 million lockup for roughly half price. And Parker suggested the remote lockup could be mothballed “until such time as the state might need it, at some point in the future.”
Even in mothballs, Whitmire and other critics say, the lockup would cost taxpayers. They point to a deactivated six-story Veterans Administration hospital in Marlin, southeast of Waco, that was given to the prison system in 2007. It has since cost more than $1.5 million to maintain — without any plan to ever reopen it.
State Rep. Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, a member of the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee who oversaw the criminal justice budget provisions, concedes the prison system has too many beds and could justify the closures. As for the Jones County lockup, he said, “It’s not needed. … Will we end up buying it? There is support for that, yes.”
In its version of the budget, the Senate directed prison officials to close the Mineral Wells Pre-Parole Transfer Facility and the Dawson State Jail in Dallas. That would close 3,500 prison beds, at a time when state prisons are running short of convicts thanks to treatment and rehabilitation programs that were beefed up starting six years ago.
“Why keep open a bunch of beds that we don’t need? That’s a waste of money,” said Whitmire, an architect of the reform programs.
While some House members and senators — all Republicans — who represent Mineral Wells and surrounding rural areas argue that that lockup shouldn’t be targeted because it is the major employer in the area, others, including Parker, say the Legislature shouldn’t specify which prisons to close — a decision they say should be left to the professionals who run the prison system.
“That’s who should make those decisions,” Parker said.
Texas has closed only one state prison in its history, the Central Unit in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land — after the Legislature mandated it. And even with the support of local officials who wanted to redevelop the land, the actual shutdown took four years to accomplish.
Echoing sentiments of other rural legislators who are concerned about the proposed closure of Mineral Wells is state Sen. Craig Estes, R-Wichita Falls: “Closing it would devastate Mineral Wells. I still have tire tracks on my back side when I tried to stop (the closure) in the Senate, but I still hold out hope that the House will keep it open.”
Other legislators are just as firm that the closures should take place. “I haven’t changed my mind. I don’t think we need it,” said state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, whose district includes the Dawson lockup.
For Parker and other House leaders, the issue isn’t about spending money on prisons the state doesn’t need right now, but on doing the right thing. Even if the state has excess prison beds, they argue, the best decision might be a share-the-pain approach: instead of shutting down entire older units, perhaps mothball portions of prisons in various parts of the state.
Whitmire has a different view.
“The people in the House who are for buying a prison we don’t need, and are for keeping two existing prisons open that we don’t need, are the same tea party, fiscal conservatives who campaigned for less government and cutting wasteful spending,” he said. “Everyone wants to cut government waste, but it’s very hard to shut down anything.”
It's pretty amazing how much the prison industrial complex controls this country.
Certainly true. That's why i was shocked to read that Texas has more prison space than we need.
wrong
UCA, United Corporations of America don't control the country, only have to buy politicians. Those s are VERY CHEAP, providing a huge ROI of $10Bs for a few $Ms invested.
Not a great choice available. Close prisons. Kill the local economy. Result? A shift of funds from prisons to unemployment, foodstamps and welfare for the citizens who lose their jobs.
I guess that would work in Tx interest, shifting state debt to the federal assistance programs.
(sadistic) prison staff are already on the taxpayers' payroll.
If you want to reduce taxpayers payroll, the real expense target is the $30K/year PER PRISONER.
Release the 100Ks prisoners, local/state/federal, in jail for small quan ies of mj.
The fact that this majority of this country thinks marijuana should be legal yet people in congress are pushing for harsher marijuana laws (Obama shoulders plenty of blame here, he's been a huge marijuana nazi) is equally outrageous.
I still blame the American people here since most don't even have the slightest clue how backwards our drug laws are and how unnecessarily high the incarceration rate is. We have 25% of the world's incarcerated population, only 7% of which are violent offenders. If Americans actually cared about informing themselves, private prison lobbyists wouldn't be so effective.
In the context of this particular story, it appears that releasing the 100k's of prisoners is not an option although I agree. The drug laws are absurd.
Or they could take the money and use it on what the OP suggested which creates plenty of jobs and also addresses the 3rd world infrastructure America is approaching.
, lets cut a deal with California to take some of theirs..they are overcrowded
but you hate paying taxes to pay for imported CA prisoners.
I don't think Teysha was making this argument by any means, but the argument I hate the most relating to prisons/drugs is, "But ma! What happens to all those prison guards who's jobs rely on us unnecessarily incarcerating millions for minor drug offenses!"
How bout they have to go compete with the rest of us in the "Free market!" Republican marijuana nazis pretend to love so much and stop suckling at the government teet?
You very well could be right, but I'd still prefer to take that risk over the option of keeping facilities we don't need open solely for the purpose of employing people. Especially when that money could be spent doing something truly beneficial.
That being said, if it's feasible to close facilities in the larger metropolitan areas where laid off prison workers would have an easier time finding another job, I think that should be considered.
As far as prisons go, I don't even think you have to take the discussion about marijuana all the way to legalization. At a bare minimum, we should at least be able to agree it's a waste of money to lock up stoners. I'd prefer to clear that hurdle and then have the discussion about whether or not MJ should be legal, or just a minor offense punishable by a fine + community service.
If they need to fill the jails then they should contract with another state to take some of their prisoners. They should certainly not be buying additional jails if they have so much empty space. There are plenty of private prison companies that could come in and purchase the Jones County facility. Let them contract with the Marshall service and then the state can invest our taxpayer dollars in things that we actually need.
profit center you dumb .
I am sure its just as simple as a goolge search but do you know or do you have any material on the actual numbers of being serving time for maijuana possession? When I worked in criminal defense, the only people that ever got time where the actual dealers. That was my observation at least, certainly not saying that this was the norm. Most people that had possession usually paid a fine or spent a week in the local municipal jail.
True they're overcrowded, but they're also broke.
In this case, clearing that hurdle implies going as far as legalization. If we stopped locking up stoners and the prison industrial complex stopped making billions off contract incarcerations, they'd no longer be pouring millions into the lobby that keeps it illegal. The only reason it is still illegal is because the PIC makes so much off incarcerating marijuana users.
taxpayers pay the PIC for out-sourced prisons, you dumb . The PICs profits are taxpayers' funds, you dumb .
Agree that I think you end up there, but for the time being I think there's still plenty of voters who aren't comfortable going all the way to legalization. IMO you've got to break this in to a two-step process. Well, at least in this state you do.
A fair point. However, I would think the locations of most of those jobs do not conflate. Unless one of those infrastructure projects is planned within 60 miles of the newly unemployed, you basically have a non-starter.
Still, DOK, your larger point remains and I agree despite my nit-picking caveats.
You can bet your ass the local cons uency drives the Rep's votes on this tho.
Yeah, but if you've got a dude on probation for a simple crime, then toss a marijuana charge on top of that: instant prison time.
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