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More guards, more prisons, or fewer prisoners: Bill expanding drug treatment makes third option possible

In the medium run, the Texas Legislature has two options for managing its prison population - build more prisons and increase pay so they can hire sufficient staff, or reduce the number of prisoners so the Department of Criminal Justice can safely guard the inmates it's got.This week we received mixed signals on the pay front, with the Senate suggesting a 20% pay hike for guards while the House removed pay increases from the budget and put them on their "wish list." The issue won't be decided until the conference committee on the budget.If pay hikes don't happen, that leaves reducing the inmate population.The good news on that front is that the Legislative Budget Board projects (see p. 14 of the pdf) that Texas' prison population will decline in fiscal year 2009 for the first time in many, many years...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on March 08, 2009 (boomark / email).