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Youth prison closures offer policy, budget model for TDCJ cuts

Proposals to cut the budget by closing adult prisons have been met with caution by state leaders, with state Sen. John Whitmire insisting that Texas should immunize TDCJ's budget from any reduction. Texas should only consider prison closures, he has said, if inmate numbers organically decline.That's not the approach the Lege took at the Texas Youth Commission, though, which radically downsized in a relatively short period of time while juvenile crime declined at record rates. (We're not alone, either: AP this week reported "States closing youth prisons as arrests plunge.") Legislators should view that transition as a model for what's possible at adult prisons in the face of a massive budget shortfall.The many recent changes at the Texas Youth Commission - facility closures, reductions in staff and inmate numbers, revamping treatment curricula - were borne of a political crisis, to be sure, and the transition was a tumultuous time of disarray for employees at the agency...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on June 13, 2010 (boomark / email).