What Is The Future Of The Texas Prison System

The media reports that the prison system is draining money out of the state. Government officials are searching for effective ways to stop the money drain and run prisons more efficiently. This has led to shutting down prison training programs, educational programs, and other services to the prison. The public sector prisons are definitely costly, especially to local tax payers. However, the for profit prison industry is definitely booming in Texas. Several of the top immigration detention centers in Texas are experiencing a sharp rise in their total profits.

The objective of this work is to examine the policy and political processes that led to the decision to make a significant budgetary change and what the result of those changes are. In addition this work will identify economic, social and cultural influences on that change and identify the interaction among the federal, state, and municipal levels with regard to the program. This work will examine the limits of the agency budget office and how they may try to compensate for those limits. This work will examine strategies that agencies and politicians might use to justify the increase or decrease of the budget for the California prison system and will finally calculate present costs and project future costs and list various cost control applications.

Back in February, Texas State Senator Carlos Uresti (D-San Antonio), was found guilty of 11 federal counts of fraud and bribery. Although countless voters and politicians from both parties promptly called on him to step down from office after learning about the guilty verdict, the democratic state senator basically slapped voters in the face and, quite arrogantly, refused to resign.

In Texas the prison industry there faced a 300% increase from 1970 to 2006 forcing a major expansion in the actually prisons. Instead of paying over 500 million dollars Texas decided to authorise a makeover of the prisons introducing drug treatments and diversion beds. By authorising this it meant that there was a huge demand in the market for new treatments and equipment which meant companies could now compete in this market. Consequently by Texas authorising this it meant that there was a sudden boost in the interest in the prison industry (John Moritz 2007). TX State Rep. Jerry Madden said that "It's far better for our society if we can

In the United States of America there are currently two prison systems in place; the Federal prison system, and the State prison system. Every state in the U.S. has its own Department of Corrections, which is tasked with handling crimes committed at the state level (Allen, 2017). The state where the crime occurred has jurisdiction over the individual that committed the crime. An individual, whom has committed a crime within a state’s jurisdiction that results in a long sentence, is sent to the state prison system in that particular state (Allen, 2017). A long sentence encompasses a period of time which exceeds a year, and a day; which is the length of time given to an individual convicted of a felony crime. An individual convicted of a misdemeanor crime which is accompanied by a sentencing length of less than a year, will serve their respective sentence in a jail. Once the individual has received their sentence, they will go through an initial classification process (Allen, Latessa, and Ponder, 2013). The purpose of the initial classification process is to identify the individual’s custody level, work assignment, and treatment. The initial classification process will differentiate between those individuals that present different security risks, and supervision concerns. Factors such as the individual’s current offense, escape potential and prior criminal history are factored in during the initial classification. Also, an individual’s background attributes, such as mental

The U.S. prison system is one of many great controversies when compared to other correctional systems. America’s prison population has increased by 700% (2.4 million current inmates) since the start of the war on drugs in 1971. As a result of this “war”, people that fall into the racial minority have suffered as a direct consequence of unjust legislation. Our prison system is known for its overrepresentation of minorities such as Blacks and Hispanics. This unfortunately gives these groups of people a perennial negative stigma as a result. I argue that the U.S. prison industrial-complex emphatically displays signs of prejudice and racism and disproportionately incarcerates people of color at a rate higher than whites. Yes, there are skeptics who think “the left’s prison-complex” is wrong about their theory of mass incarceration but the statistical data and concrete facts in support of my argument are very compelling.

One public policy issue that is attracting a great deal of attention is the matter of prison reform. While a great many members of the public support improvements in the safety, security and quality of life in prisons, few will endorse this at the expense of the same for law-abiding citizens. However, according to Koh (2013), Texas is currently facing one such dilemma. According to Koh, "prison reforms may result in better conditions for inmates, but those improvements come at the expense of welfare cash assistance and other government relief for the needy, according to a study released this month by Rice University and Louisiana State University." (Koh, p. 1)

The legislature is obligated to inscribe a biennial budget, which forces agencies to have their budget projections way in advance. This has a negative affect on these agencies because they aren’t accounting for consequential and unanticipated developments. “Another important factor is that a large portion of the biennial budget id dedicated for special purposes by the federal law or by the Texas Constitution or state statute.” “(329)”. These factors are influences of why not to have a part-time legislature because it appears that there’s not much debate about what should be included and cut from the

The bulk of the research was performed in the late 90s after many years had passed since the implementation of privatized prisons got a substantial boost in1988 (Austin, 2001). Much of the literature centers on the cost effectiveness of contracting out prisons. The main focus of the research is first and foremost, are they saving money by contracting out. Second, if they are saving money, is it enough money to justify the other problems that naturally accompany the for profit prisons model.

The privatization of prisons serves as a solution to economic problems. Privatization essentially allows for large corporations, such as Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group Inc, to profit from caging humans. State governments allow corporations to buy local prisons because privatization lifts the fiscal responsibilities of the states. While privatization eliminates a financial burden from states, it comes with great compromises. For example, the Lake Erie Correctional Institute was the first prison purchased by a for-profit corporation: the CCA. When the CCA purchased the prison, the city of Conneaut, Ohio faced many hardships. Almost immediately, many long-time employees of the prison were fired. The CCA replaced experienced employees

According to Alex Tabarrok, privately managed facilities can have cost savings of 15-25% on prison edification and 15% on administrative expenses. Likewise, private prisons generate competition and exert pressure towards public prisons. They encourage public prisons to also innovate and lower costs. Other studies (Lundahl et al. 2009, page 392) argue, “prison privatization provides neither a clear advantage nor disadvantage compared with publicly managed prisons.”

This is a relatively new industry and it is startling to imagine how much power they will have in another 30-40 years. They have already managed to manipulate the fourth amendment. At this rate, your simple municipal violation might turn into an arrest record in the future. One possible sign of things to come happened with a Texas man, Jory Enck. He was thrown in jail for allegedly not returning a GED study guide to the public library.

Privatizing prisons may be one way for the prison population to get back under control. Prisons are overcrowded and need extra money to house inmates or to build a new prison. The issue of a serious need for space needs to be addressed. “As a national average, it costs roughly $20,000 per year to keep an inmate in prison. There are approximately 650,000 inmates in state and local prisons, double the number five years ago. This costs taxpayers an estimated $18 billion each year. More than two thirds of the states are facing serious overcrowding problems, and many are operating at least 50 percent over capacity. (Joel, 1988)” Private prisons may be for profit, but if they can solve the issue of cost then it may be a

The United States has an incarceration problem that personifies issues throughout the entire criminal justice system. "The United States, with just 5 percent of the world 's population, currently holds 25 percent of the world 's prisoners" (Khalek). This issue runs deeper than just incarceration; it permeates every level of the criminal justice system, from incarceration to probation. Many states have turned to private institutions in an attempt shed operating costs, while also increasing effectiveness throughout the criminal justice system. These acts can include anything from providing treatment programs to full blown management of the entire prison system. Overcrowding at prisons and the rising costs associated with them has led many states to turn to some form of privatization within the criminal justice system. However, privatizing the entire correction system would not be beneficial for the state, from both an ethical and a public policy standpoint.

The state correctional facilities cost an astronomical amount to operate. Most citizens do not realize the daily cost associated with not only housing an inmate, but also the operational expenses. Even with the high costs associated with operating a correctional facility, most of the general public is immune to what it takes to house a prisoner. Prison is an expensive social tool. It’s effectiveness and purpose are often debated, but the fact that it is costly cannot be debated (Trout, 2011). So what are some of the costs associated with housing an inmate?