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TDCJ budget cut suggestions set agency up to fail

The state budget folk who estimate such things now say Texas' budget shortfall may be a jaw-dropping $21 billion next biennium, exacerbated by the fact that last session legislators only balanced the budget using $14 million in stimulus funding.Which brings us to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Legislative Appropriations Request (large pdf), which was finalized while I was on vacation. TDCJ by far costs taxpayers more than any other criminal justice agency, so obviously they should be subject to the lion's share of cuts. However, the "Administrator's Statement" warns of all sorts of dire consequences if TDCJ's budget is cut by just 5%, which is the level anticipated by their LAR. Upon closer inspection, though, that's because the agency's suggested budget cuts seem designed to exacerbate rather than avoid bad consequences...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on September 21, 2010 (boomark / email).