This is how Texas continues to deal with prison overcrowding:

Inmates paroled at highest rate in more than 10 years

HOUSTON The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles is approving the early release of prisoners at its highest rate in more than a decade, a newspaper reported Sunday.

The percentage of parole-eligible inmates granted release under supervision has grown from a low of less than 17 percent in 1997 to more than 30 percent so far this year, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis of state records.

The higher approval rating has helped stabilize the inmate population as the state prison system hovers at capacity. However, current and former parole officials say decisions to release inmates are made on a case-by-case basis and are not dictated by the number of prisoners.

"The No. 1 concern for the board is the safety of the people of Texas," said Rissie Owens, who chairs the parole board. "The major concern for us is, 'Is this person going to re-offend?'"

Some contend, though, that other issues are involved in the board's decisions.

"They have notoriously used the parole board as a backdoor gauge to control prison populations," said Bill Habern, a lawyer who has represented inmates at parole hearings for more than 20 years. "It's hard for me to believe that the criminals being voted on for parole today are one iota different than the criminals that were being voted on five years ago."

Victims' advocates link rising crime rates with rising parole rates. Robberies in Houston have risen more than 40 percent in recent years, from a 10-year low of 7,711 in 1998 to 10,985 in 2003, according to Houston police.

"It seems like the parole board is more interested in making room for additional prisoners than really looking out for the predictable impact that releasing violent offenders is going to have," said Kim Ogg, executive director of Houston Crime Stoppers.

Houston police spokesman Alvin Wright said the rise in robberies reflected a normal fluctuation over time. He called it inappropriate to tie rising parole approval rates with rising crime rates.

About 70 percent of parole releases are granted for those initially imprisoned for nonviolent crimes such as drug dealing, burglary or theft.

State officials took steps last year to expand prison capacity for the first time in several years, planning the conversion of a juvenile detention facility at the Hamilton Unit, near Bryan, into an adult prison that would house 1,000 inmates. Experts say lawmakers may have to consider building more prisons.

"It's like a bathtub. Everyone knows that a bathtub can only hold so much water, and TDCJ can only hold so many inmates," said Charles Hurt, a criminal justice consultant who works with lawyers and inmates' families. "At some point, you've got to open the drain plug or go out and buy a bigger bathtub."

Despite the increase, the current parole approval rates remain far lower than they were in late 1980s. At that time, up to 80 percent of the inmates appearing before the board were released, and many criminals were serving just 10 percent of their sentences.

[This message was edited by John Bradley on 07-01-04 at .]

I, for one, favor getting a bigger bathtub. It cannot be coincidence that our crime rates, across the board, fell precipitously over the past 10-15 years beginning about the same time we began to build more prisons and keep criminals in custody longer.

If you're going to go shopping, don't just look for "a" (meaning one) bigger bathtub. Why not buy several bigger bathtubs?

Back to creative punishments (remember the whole gripe about not being able to send SJF to prison on their very first offense), on a whole new level. Now, of course, this is in jest, but maybe prison just isn't working. If the gripe is that we drag the felons in the front door (for show), and escort them out the back door when no one is looking, then the argument can be made that Prison is not a deterrent.

Once the felons are put back on the street, then we have to deal with the new criminals along with the recidivists. The more felons on the street, the more officers we need to protect us. Then, the more defense counsel we need when they get in trouble again. The more prosecutors we need to prosecute them. Maybe the Romans had a novel idea with the gladatorial contests!

In fact, having grown up in Harris County, I think that the Summit should not have been sold/rented (whichever) to Lakewood Church. That place would have made an excellent arena, and the good people of Harris County could be counted on to buy tickets to any sporting event (after all, while living there, we stuck with the Oilers for years).

[This message was edited by Beck Gibson on 06-29-04 at .]

Rick Casey of the Houston Chronicle had a very interesting column in yesterday's edition on this subject and the workings of the parole process in Texas. If I had any idea of how to put a link here you could click on to go to it I would do so. Maybe somebody that is not technically challanged as am I will do so.

I don't know the answer, but it isn't to let more of them out. We just had a brutal murder of an elderly woman in her own rural home and the suspect in custody and now charged was released on parole (probably mandatory?) in September of 2003 on a life sentence. He was in on a UUMV made habitual, but his priors included Burglary of a Hab; Agg. Robbery and Forgery. He had been passing forged checks all over the county and had a warrant out at the time, but he still managed to commit the murder before being caught after a car chase in an adjacent county.

This particular guy was sent from this county and had family here etc., but it seems lately we have been getting alot of parolees from other counties and even if they notified the victims etc. prior to letting them out in the other county, they did not notify us until after they were already released. Anyway, put my vote in the bigger bathtub or gladiators at the Summit (or you could also use the Astrodome) category.

This is what they were saying 10 years ago:

AUSTIN -- Gov. Ann Richards Wednesday admitted that a clampdown on paroles is largely responsible for the overcrowded jails in Harris County, but she said the state shouldn't retreat
from that policy.

Richards said the state, which is in the midst of a huge
prison construction program, will consider numerous alternatives
for reducing the backlog of state prisoners in county custody.

""But when it comes to choosing between letting them out or
paying a fine, we're going to pay the fine, and we're going to keep
those dangerous ones (felons) in there,'' she said.

U.S.District Judge Norman W. Black Tuesday re-enforced an
earlier court order imposing a fine of $ 50 per day on the state for
every inmate in excess of 9,800 in Harris County jails after April
1

The county's facilities have about 12,500 inmates this week,
which translates into daily fines of about $ 135,000.

The jail backlog has been worsened by a sharp reduction in
the parole rate under Richards' appointees to the Board of Pardons
and Paroles.

Two years ago, about 150 inmates were being paroled each
weekday. Now, 60 or fewer are being released each day, while the
prison system is operated at 99.7 percent of the capacity allowed
under the settlement of the Ruiz prison reform lawsuit.

""I had to make a decision early on, and that decision was I
going to continue to allow parolees at the rate we had been putting
out to avoid overcrowding,'' said Richards, who took office in
January 1991.

""And I made the decision that I was not going to do that. ''
The governor said she told Jack Kyle, who she appointed in
1991 to chair the parole board, to ""think of his family and his
neighborhood before he let them out. ''

""As a consequence, we are very overcrowded (in some county
jails). But also our crime rate is down in the cities, and I'm
going to keep that policy,'' Richards added.

Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock on Tuesday suggested the Board of
Criminal Justice should continue activating the Prison Management
Act, which expands the parole pool by advancing the parole
eligibility dates of prison inmates who are within 30 days of being
eligible for release.

But that alternative, which was used numerous times by former
Gov. Bill Clements to keep the prison system in compliance with
court-ordered population limits during the 1980s, is politically
unpopular.

Richards said the state may have no choice but to invoke the
Prison Management Act, but she added: ""I do not want to do that.

That is an absolute last resort. ''

Just my prediction, but I do not believe any additional prison space will come online in Texas for at least 8 years (there may be some bed rentals, but that's about it). We can barely afford to operate the existing system. The population will increase at least 15% during that time period and the size of the criminal element may well increase at a faster pace. Of course that means a smaller percentage of criminals can be housed and increased numbers of recidivists in our communities is a foregone conclusion. Lets just hope we do not return back to the one year equals one month, right away. The statistic most interesting to me is that there are fewer persons on parole than there are incarcerated. That is the most obvious proof that most parolees don't make it in the free world.

In case anyone wants to know what sentences on average meant for male releasees in FY 2002 (the most recent statistics I could find): 2=1.36; 3=1.95; 4=2.5; 5=3.18; 6=3.74; 7=4.40; 8=5.27; 9=5.79; 10=6.36; 11-15=8.12; 16-20=9.11. The 246 "lifers" released that year had served an average of 18.37 years. Females are generally paroled more quickly across the board. You can safely bet those numbers are changing as we strive ever harder to remove the repeat offenders from the streets.

I'm certainly no expert on prisons (and never hope to be), but aren't there several county-owned facilities across Texas that were previously used to house out-of-state miscreants (before those contracts dried up as a result of the budget deficits)?

Couldn't some of these county-owned facilities be used/converted for housing Texas prisoners? To me, it's a less desirable solution than building new prisons (bathtubs) -- but it's more desirable than seeing recidivists paroled.

Let me preface these remarks by saying:first, I am not yet an attorney. I am taking the bar in a few weeks, and hope to go to work for a county or district attorney in the near future; second, as a former cop and parole-probation officer in Louisiana (next door to New Orleans), the problem comes down to money. Even if you buy more bathtubs, or bigger bathtubs, or more, bigger bathtubs, eventually most inmates will get to leave. The problem then becomes what to do to keep them from re-offending. The short, cynical answer is there is nothing we can do. By my experience, very nearly every convict released from prison will commit new crimes, or violate his conditions of parole. These are people who have already been in prison, survived their sentence and know that new convictions, or technical violations will get them revoked and sent back to the can. Having survived it once, they now KNOW they can get thru it again, especially since they are usually looking at less time than their initial sentence, so the threat of returning to prison has no, or very little preventative effect.

What might help the situation is for Corrections to eliminate or scale back good time, thereby keeping inmates off the streets and away from home longer. Time away from mom, dad, kids, etc, is one of the few regrets I have heard come from the mouths of former inmates. Lengthening the time served for convictions could have a positive effect in reducing recidivism. Also, no convict should be released without submitting a pre-release parole plan, which identifes, at the very least, where the inmate intends to reside, with whom, and where he, or she, plans on getting a job. You all may not be amazed at how many inmates are released without the state having any clue where these folks will be once they are released, but the general public probably would be.

But all of this, bigger tubs, tighter controls, more and better supervision, costs alot of money. Parole supervision fees can't come close to paying the costs of supervision, even when parole officers are "supervising" 100-150 convicts. You think it's tough controlling 2-3 kids in your house, who, hopefully, love you, try 150 adults in bad neighborhoods, who don't even like you. I think bigger fines for misdemeanor crimes, along with restitution for ALL property crimes, maybe even treble damages, enforcable by jail time if not paid like any other contempt offenses, would be step in the right direction. Leave prison for the folks who really don't belong on the streets with decent people. No matter what option is chosen, incarceration, supervision, it will still come down to money and how to spend it.