Officials Disagree on How to Handle Prison Issues

AUSTIN, Texas — A disagreement between state lawmakers on the Sunset Commission and state corrections officials could cost $150 million and result in a shortfall of approximately 11,000 beds in the Texas state prison system by 2011, according to reports.

The commission would like to initiate prison rehabilitation, probation and parole systems to reduce crowding and avoid building new prisons, but corrections officials assert that based on the prison system’s current population the state is going to need new prisons.

Lawmakers on the commission want to fund in-prison and outpatient drug and alcohol treatment programs, restructure probation and parole to highlight early release for good behavior and low-risk offenders, and provide early release for inmates with severe medical conditions.

The state’s prison system has 5,500 inmates convicted of repeat drunken driving. About 24,000 people were sent to prison in 2006 for probation violations, according to officials. Lawmakers claim that treatment programs, costing approximately $150 million over the next two years, would benefit the community in addition to freeing up prison beds.

There are nearly 1,500 inmates currently approved for parole on the condition that they complete a six-month in-house drug treatment program, and the program already has a yearlong waiting list.

Critics agree that the state is in need of these programs, but they claim lawmakers are simply turning more offenders onto the streets to solve potential overcrowding.