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Save Money by Providing Alternatives to Incarceration & Increase Public Safety Through Policy Reform

Highlights from Texas ’ 81^st Legislature

Texas policy-makers have realized that the expensive and ineffective “lock-em-up” approach has not increased public safety, nor addressed the root causes of crime head on. Their efforts during this difficult session to continue to reverse decades of costly, irresponsible policies and spiraling prison growth will prevent taxpayers from having to shoulder the costs of additional prison construction and maintenance, and will boost public safety while strengthening communities.

We would like to thank all of the specialty court judges, probation directors, and practitioners, as well as others who were instrumental in advancing smart-on-crime strategies.

HB 93 (Hodge, Guillen); Encourages an inmate to engage in good behavior by restoring good conduct time forfeited during a term of imprisonment. – Signed by the Governor!
HB 666 (Gutierrez, Moody, Hodge, Leibowitz); Increases funding for drug court programs. – Signed by the Governor!
SB 112 (Ellis) [amended to SB 1940 (Van de Putte)]; The amendment creates a Veterans Diversion Court Program for defendants who can demonstrate that their criminal conduct was affected by brain injuries or mental illnesses resulting from military service. – Signed by the Governor; effective immediately!
SB 633 (Seliger); Lowers the number of counties or municipalities needed to establish regional drug court programs. – Signed by the Governor; effective immediately!
SB 1557 (Duncan); Identifies criminal defendants who may have a mental illness or mental retardation earlier in the legal process, and authorizes the use of such information during the punishment phase. – Signed by the Governor!

Bills That Were Vetoed

SB 1206 (Hinojosa); Allows a parole panel to consider the release of an inmate who has successfully completed a rehabilitation program up to 45 days earlier than his or her initial release date. – Vetoed.

Work Ahead

We will continue to concentrate on diversion implementation, including the need for an established, designated funding stream for substance abuse treatment.

In addition, we would like to examine and feature specialty courts. We are interested in researching the tools that specialty court judges need for successful implementation of these courts, and we are interested in learning the impact that an investment in these specialty courts can have on recidivism and public safety.

To complement our diversion efforts, we would like to research the administrative/policy and legislative barriers to the implementation of best practices in probation. Specifically, our end goal is to assist the probation system in developing and utilizing both an appropriate funding formula (to reduce the system’s over-reliance on probationer fees as a means of income), as well as an appropriate risk-assessment tool (which will strengthen supervision by identifying probationers’ needs while meeting the community’s own public safety needs).

Finally, we would like to further our research on contributors to prison overcrowding, including penalty enhancements for criminal offenses, as well as the over-use of prison for those suffering from substance abuse and mental health issues.

Likewise, we would like to identify strategies that will reduce county jail overcrowding, which is draining local budgets and increasing the costs to taxpayers.