Key Findings: Increase the Efficiency of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Key Findings:
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Harsh prison conditions – including poor medical care – can increase recidivism rates. [i]
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TDCJ recommends about 70 or more inmates per month for medical-based parole, but the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles releases only about 10% of those recommended.[ii]
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48% of TDCJ’s total pharmacy budget goes to pay for drugs for prisoners with HIV, who represent less than 10% of prisoners.[iii]
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Texas spent approximately $557,657 on settlements for prison conditions over a four-year span. This figure does not include the attorney fees of the Attorney General staff, who must spend countless hours defending TDCJ against prisoner complaints.[iv]
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Nationwide, 1.5 million people per year are released from jail and prison with a life threatening infectious disease. [v]
[i] Jesse M. Shaprio, “Do Harsher Prison Conditions Reduce Recidivism? A Discontinuity-based Approach,” American Law and Economics Review 9, 1 (2007): 1-29.
[ii] Scott Henson, “AIDS drugs, healthcare for elderly inmated driving TDCJ medical costs.” Grits for Breakfast, http://gritsforbreakfast.blogspot.com/2008/04/aids-drugs-healthcare-for-elderly.html.
[iii] Scott Henson, Aids.
[iv] Texas Civil Rights Project, July 2007.
[v] John J.Gibbons and Nicolas de B. Katzenbach, Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons: Confronting Confinement, (June 2006), http://www.prisoncommission.org/pdfs/Confronting_Confinement.pdf.