Prison Construction is Unsustainable
I. New prisons can’t be staffed. TDCJ currently faces a shortage of approximately 2,700 corrections officers;[ii] some facilities operate with staff levels near 62%.[iii] Guard shortages are caused by a combination of low wages, poor benefits, poor working conditions, and low job satisfaction.
Furthermore, nearly 1 in 4 TDCJ guards quit each year,ii creating an inexperienced body of staff members that endanger both inmates and other guards, while also exposing the state to costly liability and worker’s compensation suits. In Fiscal Year 2005, a total of 5,700 TDCJ employee injuries were reported; 36% resulted in accepted worker’s comp claims.[iv] Since TDCJ cannot fill its existing vacancies, the agency is not likely to fill the additional positions necessary for new facilities.
II. New prisons can’t be managed properly. TDCJ facilities are currently operating under faulty management practices that will be compounded by the addition of new facilities:
a. Staff shortages have forced TDCJ to rely on inmates to perform guards’ duties. TDCJ facilities enlist 6,200 prisoner “trusties” (inmates who are allowed off prison grounds without any identification to carry out duties for guards) as a means to compensate for understaffing. Of this group, nearly 5,700 are parole-eligible, pointing to understaffing as a possible contributor to overcrowded prisons.[v] If the risky and inefficient trusty program was ended, TDCJ’s estimated 2,700 employee shortage would actually be much greater.
b. New prisons could push prison healthcare to unconstitutional levels, exploding costs. Texas currently spends $7.68 on healthcare per inmate per day, a number significantly lower than rates in California and New York. In addition, Texas prison healthcare is borderline unconstitutional, according to officials at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, which manages about two-thirds of Texas prisons’ healthcare facilities.[vi]
Opening new facilities will add more inmates to the already strained prison healthcare system, exposing the state to liability concerning inadequate health services. If prison healthcare services are declared unconstitutional in federal court, Texas could face the costly and embarrassing prospect of relinquishing control of prison healthcare to a federal court receiver. This happened in California two years ago, causing healthcare costs to explode, including mandated new payments of $10 million per year for the salaries of the consulting team.[vii]
[i] Fabelo, Tony. “Justice Reinvestment: A Framework to Improve Effectiveness of Justice Policies in Texas.” Presentation at the Joint Hearing of the House Corrections Committee and Senate Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, January 30, 2007.
[ii] Ward, Mike. “Prison workers overtime held back.” Austin-American Statesman, January 15, 2006.
[iii] Brad Livingston. Testimony for the Joint Hearing of the House Corrections Committee and Senate Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, January 30, 2007.
[iv] Texas Department of Criminal Justice, “Risk Management Statistics,” (January 4, 2006). 36% is an average of each of the monthly rates from November 2004 to November 2005.
[v] Senator John Whitmire. Remarks at the Joint Hearing of the House Corrections Committee and Senate Criminal Jurisprudence Committee, January 30, 2007.
[vi] Ward, Mike. “Texas prison health care system on critical list.” Austin-American Statesman, July 24, 2006.
[vii] Thompson, Don. “Cost of federal oversight of state prisons draws fire.” Associated Press, January 19, 2007.