Retired warden: Texas' prison crowding crisis self inflicted

Texas doesn't need more prisons, says former Holliday Unit warden Richard Watkins in Saturday's Houston Chronicle. He wrote:

Ultimately, prison expansion fails to make us safer and perpetuates a cycle of criminality that can be broken with a different approach to punishment. More than half of TDCJ prison admissions annually are revoked parolees and probationers. Serving time in prison prevents individuals from becoming independent, contributing members of society, and prisons do not offer programs that rehabilitate individuals so they can succeed in the job market and provide for their families upon release.

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