Suggestions given for overflowing prisons
Web Posted: 02/08/2008 02:39 AM CST
Having reached a critical
mass in its prison and jail populations, Texas needs to work harder to
divert substance abusers and mentally ill inmates from the system,
better equip the wave of those who are released each year and implement
alternatives to incarceration for nonviolent offenders, a group of
policymakers and criminal justice experts said Thursday.
Although the state's prison and jail systems have long complained of
overcrowding, the situation has become dire, as there are not enough
prisons or jails to house those who are arrested every day. And even if
there were, experts said, the systems are woefully understaffed for the
volume.
At the first statewide symposium of its kind,
organized by Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson, panelists
Thursday cited alarming statistics as they discussed the reasons the
state's prison population remains so large — the second-biggest in the
nation — and ways to reduce it while ensuring offenders are adequately
punished.
Jails throughout the state are struggling.
Bexar County Jail, for instance, was declared in violation of state standards last year because of overcrowding, and today it remains at nearly 96 percent capacity. Out of its 4,219 inmates, 98 are currently being held in the Frio County Jail because there isn't enough space here.
Part of the
problem, some panelists said, is that the state's correctional system
becomes a dumping ground for the mentally ill and those with chronic
substance abuse problems.
Nearly one-third of the state's
prison population have also been in the state mental health system,
said Scott Henson, author of the criminal justice blog Grits for
Breakfast.
The correctional system is where "the failures
of all society's other institutions wind up at the end of the day," he
said, incurring a tremendous cost for counties and the state.
In Bexar County, about 25 percent of the jail's population is mentally
ill, said Leon Evans, president of the San Antonio-based Center for
Health Care Services, a non-profit partnership with University Hospital
that tries to divert mentally ill people before they get arrested. The
program has been showcased as a model for other counties and states.
Evans estimated the group screens about 500 mentally ill people a month
who would otherwise have ended up in jail or in emergency rooms because
police officers don't know where to take them.
"There's a
growing realization that we have a system of incarceration that mainly
deals with the mentally ill or with drug offenders," said Tony Fabelo,
the symposium's keynote speaker and director of research for the
Council of State Government's Justice Center.
Fabelo said
incarceration is such a common experience for some people that it's not
regarded as a deterrent to committing crime. In Texas, he said, the
growth of the prison population has outpaced that of the state: Between
1980 and 2005, the state jail population jumped 61 percent and the
prison population by 310 percent. Meanwhile, the state's overall
population grew 61.3 percent.
Nearly two-thirds of felons
are re-arrested within three years of their release, said John Byrd, a
criminal justice professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
In Bexar County Jail, Adkisson said, about 81 percent of the inmates
have been there before.
Policymakers and elected leaders
must make it easier, under certain circumstances, for offenders to post
bail, the panelists said, and use better pre-trial services to reduce
the number of those awaiting trial.
One such option,
House Bill 2391, passed the state Legislature last year and allows law
enforcement officials to issue citations for certain nonviolent
misdemeanors, such as driving with an invalid license. Those charged
would still face the same punishment but would not have to wait in jail
until posting bail.
Only three counties have elected to implement that provision. Bexar County has not.
State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, D-San Antonio, wrote a bill last
legislative session that would have allowed non-violent parole
offenders to post bail while they await a hearing. The bill passed, but
was vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry.
