Huntsville,
Texas – Last week the U.S. Justice Department announced it would be
phasing out all of its private prison contracts in a move that
mirrored the 2013 closure of two private prisons by the Texas
legislature. Currently the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is
facing a budgetary shortfall to its already cash strapped system
after state leadership demanded a 4 percent cut. The $248 million
cutback would force the agency to cut 2,000 correctional officer and support positions (page 7) in some of the most highest security prisons in
Texas.
Lance
Lowry the President of the Huntsville AFSCME Texas Correctional
Employees chapter states “state leadership needs to backup its
officers and not take our backup.” The agency currently manages
148,000 inmates with 24,000 correctional officers or a 6:1 offender
to officer ratio. Lowry states similar state operated correctional
departments such as the New York State Department of Corrections have
a 3:1 staffing ratio making cutbacks even more dangerous to Texas
officers. Since the 2015 legislative session Officer Timothy
Davidson and Officer Mari Johnson were murdered in TDCJ. Lowry
states “no officer in a controlled environment should ever have to
fight alone” after the two officers failed to receive backup in
time.
Lowry
states “cutting officer's backup in an already resource strapped
agency will only lead to more officers getting killed. They say the
have our back, but the only thing I see in the cutbacks is them
taking our backup.” Lowry states a viable alternative would be to
reduce the inmate population and cut back the amount of leased beds
Texas prisons are already using.
Currently
Texas uses 16 contract bed facilities that house low custody level
inmates. Lowry states that Texas needs to allocate its security
resources to focusing on the higher level and more violent inmates
housed in its own prisons instead of supplying low level inmates to
private facilities. TDCJ prisons are better equipped with more
experienced staff and equipment to handle violent inmates than
private prisons. Lowry cites poor performance and high staff
turnover in the private prisons as the main reason to phase out their
contracts. The private prison industry in Texas has a 90 percent officer turnover (Page 9) compared to TDCJ's 26 percent (Page F1-9) . This leaves the
private prisons with a larger amount of inexperience officers not
equipped to handle more violent inmates. The high turnover and low
wages in the private prison place economic burdens on communities who
have to allocate water and sewer resources for this industry that
places a drain on the local economies with little if any actual
returns.
Lower
level offenders could be better handled with enhanced parole and
probation practices. These practices over the last several years
have reduced crime. State rehabilitation programs and enhanced
community supervision have resulted in a more efficient system for
taxpayers. Cutting back officers and programs that target recidivism
are not the answer. Less officers in the prison means inmates will
be forced to join gangs for protection. Lowry states “don't expect
reformed citizens when we cutback vital resources to safeguarding our
prisons. Most of these guys will get out and will be walking among
us one day.”
