Report Recommends Merging Texas Juvenile Detention, Probation Agencies

AUSTIN, Texas — The state’s juvenile corrections and probation agencies should be abolished and their functions merged to improve operations, service delivery, programs and oversight, according to a legislative commission study.


The report by the Sunset Advisory Commission, an advisory panel created by the state Legislature to review the operations of state agencies, calls for the establishment of a new agency to administer all corrections functions, coordinate incarceration programs and probation services, and operate facilities for youth offenders and wards in the state.


The Texas Youth Commission remains dysfunctional and ineffective more than one year after the introduction of comprehensive reforms to address allegations of physical and sexual abuse and agency mismanagement, according to the 133-page report.


The agency’s “ongoing problems pose a significant challenge to the effective operation of the system,” according to the report.


The TYC operates 12 detention facilities and nine transitional housing facilities, and reported an average daily population of almost 2,700 wards in fiscal year 2008. The Texas Juvenile Probation Commission, which oversees county-run probation services, received more than 106,000 referrals in 2006 and reported an average daily probation population of more than 23,000 youths.


Historically, the two juvenile agencies have not worked well together in planning the arrangement of facilities and service delivery that would create a mutually supportive system of county and state programs, according to the report.


The failure to collaborate has resulted in little strategic integration planning, too few cooperative operational initiatives, ineffective critical information sharing, and limited means for evaluating intervention outcomes and targeting resources to effective programs, according to the report.


Both agencies are developing information systems to maintain youth data, such as education, treatment and family history, but have not coordinated their efforts to ensure the efficient sharing and use of data, according to the report.


Executive officers of both agencies refuted the Sunset report and labeled its findings as inaccurate.


“Since the appointment of permanent leadership, we have been increasingly working with TYC to strengthen both agencies’ effectiveness,” says Vicki Spriggs, TJPC executive director.


The agency heads highlighted several areas that are being explored for collaborative agency efforts, including staff training and development, a data-sharing blueprint and coordinated MIS systems, mental health services, evidence-based practices and pilot community corrections programs.


“The recommendations are not only outdated, but if adopted, will be counter-productive to our reform efforts,” says Cherrie Townsend, TYC executive commissioner.


The report estimates that merging the agencies and combining corrections and probation functions under the new Texas Juvenile Justice Department would generate annual operational savings of approximately $27 million starting during the second year of the merger.


Most of the annualized cost savings would accrue from reduced administrative staff levels and the closure of some facilities.