Dallas News backs closing prisons to save money

A Dallas News editorial yesterday looking forward at specific ways to cut in next year's Texas state budget offered these suggestions for saving money in the justice system:

PUBLIC SAFETY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE: $650.6 million
Alcohol and Beverage Commission $9 million 10%
Overseeing prisons and felons $500 million 10%
Repair and construction of prisons $10 million 50%
Parole system $10 million 3%
Central administration $7 million 6%
Commission on Fire Protection $600,000 9%
Juvenile Probation Commission $30 million 10%
Department of Public Safety:
Central administration and support $50 million 26%
Texas Youth Commission $40 million 10% 

Unstated but implied, to reduce costs for "Overseeing prisons and felons" by $500 million would require closing multiple prison units and reducing the total number of people the state incarcerates and employs at its 112 units across the state. Only public education would take a bigger hit, if DMN editorialists got to make the call. (They advise against the cuts to mental health care services recommended recently.) 

At odds with that recommendation, though, are simultaneous recommended cuts to the parole system. A mantra I'll likely be repeating through next session will be that incarceration costs can go down safely if the state maintains or increases incentive-based investments in community supervision. The big fights will be over whether to close units, and then, which ones? That debate's not happening yet in official forums in Austin, at least not publicly, but it's probably just around the bend. 

See related Grits posts:

• LBB: Prison population flat for years to come unless Texas cuts diversion programming
• Youth prison closures offer policy, budget model for TDCJ cuts
• 'Unthinkable' prison closures now on table at Texas Lege
• State won't exempt public safety agencies in next round of budget cuts
• Criminal justice policy: An unlikely bipartisan consensus
• $18 billion budget shortfall mean prison closures must be on table
• 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'