Saturday, September 28, 1996

Report: Texas Prison Capacity in Good Shape

By CHIP BROWN
Associated Press

AUSTIN - A decrease in crime coupled with one of the largest prison construction projects in history will keep Texas from exceeding prison capacity until late 1999, according to a state report released Friday.

But beginning in August 1999, the prison capacity of 145,000 is expected to be exceeded by 1,350 prisoners and by 4,950 prisoners as of August 2002, according to the report by the Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council.

"Texas is the only state in the country with adequate correctional capacity to meet its incarceration needs, and do so with no prison or jail overcrowding," Criminal Justice Policy Council Executive Director Tony Fabelo wrote in the report.

Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Glen Castlebury said the Legislature already has authorized the construction of up to 8,000 additional beds to meet anticipated demands.

But Castlebury said state leaders are looking at options that may not require more prison construction, such as leasing space from county lockups.

Lt. Gov. Bob Bullock has said serious consideration should be given to leasing space from counties as opposed to building additional prisons.

Fabelo said with three years lead time to tackle any new capacity demands, there is no rush.
"We should not have a crisis in the next two to three years, so we are in the unique position of having enough capacity and enough time to plan for what to do next," Fabelo said.

That's a far cry from the state's prison situation as recently as five years ago, when Texas prisons were controlled by the courts and were paroling violent offenders early because there was no room.
Texas has completed a massive $1.5 billion prison expansion that increased capacity from 50,000 to 145,000. Currently, the state's prison population is 131,559.

In March of 1995, Fabelo had projected to the Legislature that the state would need an additional 8,000 beds as early as August 1997, prompting lawmakers to approve the funding for such an expansion.

But factors such as a decreasing crime rate caused Fabelo to project in March of this year that only 3,067 additional beds would be needed by August 1997. Now, no new beds are projected as being needed until August 1999.

"Criminal justice policies, along with a strong economy are having a more positive impact in reducing crime and reducing the growth in correctional populations than previously projected," Fabelo wrote.

"Reported crime in Texas has continued to decline in 1995 and in early 1996, impacting a stabilization in the number of new convictions, a decline in parole revocations and a decline in the number of offenders sentenced to prison," he wrote.