$18 billion budget shortfall means prison closures must be on table

Texas' Legislative Budget Board announced yesterday that the revenue shortfall faced by the state in 2011 will be in the $15-18 billion range, according to the Texas Tribune.

If that's accurate, I don't believe there's a remote chance that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice will be exempted from spending cuts, which means it's time now for legislators to be discussing how to do that safely.

The most important, indeed, the only practical way to reduce prison spending is to change policy, not just cut budgets. The most obvious approaches are expanding on Texas' 2007 probation reforms and ratcheting down sentences for low-level drug-possession, though legislators could also reduce inmate numbers and save money by more aggressively using medical parole or expanding good-time or work credits.

Whatever their approach, there must be policy change to significantly cut costs. Texas courts send more than 72,000 people per year to Texas prisons and inmate numbers won't decline just because of state budget cuts. In practice, cuts must correspond either to reductions in the number of new entries to TDCJ through diversion programming or reducing the length of stay for low-risk inmates, beefing up supervision resources in probation and parole.

The only other option - cutting drug and alcohol treatment, diversion programming and community supervision funds, as TDCJ has suggested - would be penny wise but pound foolish, costing the state more in the near term.

There's not a simple fix available, but there's reason to believe the public prefers cutting prison costs to other possible options. Other states are confronting similar crises, and many have reached the same conclusion: Mass incarceration is a rich nation's hobby, not one we can afford during tight budget times.

See related Grits posts

• Will public support cuts to prisons during budget crunch?
  
• Former House Corrections Chairman: Don't make same mistake as in 2003, close older, most expensive prison units to save money
  
• TDCJ needs 'Plan B' to rescue successful community corrections investments
• Which prison units should Texas close? Private contracts, security concerns may factor in
• The shortest distance to cutting 5% at TDCJ: Reduce drug penalties
  
• An 'unrepentant, hard-right conservative' was 'forced to agree' with prison diversion 'based on the facts'
  
• Correa: Preserve diversion funding, cut prisons to reduce TDCJ's budget
  
• Texas' criminal justice challenge in 2010: Find solutions to coming budget crunch
  
• Might 2011 budget crunch bring TX prison closures?
• As 2011 budget crisis looms, should most expensive prison units be closed?
• Data on TDCJ unit age and cost
• As 2011 budget crisis looms, should most expensive prison units be closed?
  
• States slashing spending costs, closing units
• Some states actually shutting down prison units
• Emptying prisons makes Wired magazine's 'Smart List'
• California's partisan prison meltdown: Why Texas didn't go there