Monday, April 18, 2011

Reductions in solitary confinement on table for possible budget cuts

Mike Ward at the Austin Statesman has a story outlining a slew of cost-cutting proposals under consideration in the House Corrections Committee "that just a few years ago never would have received a serious hearing [or] have gained support." "Even if only a few are adopted," says Ward, "they could profoundly change prison operations in the Lone Star State." In addition to suggestions highlighted previously on Grits, "Even the idea of keeping thousands of fewer criminals in solitary confinement is being considered." Wrote Ward:
Key among the savings proposals that most likely would not have been considered just a few years ago is House Bill 3764, which would push prison officials to keep thousands of fewer convicts in solitary confinement.

More than 8,500 felons are housed in "administrative segregation," where convicts spend 23 hours a day in a small single-bunk cell under constant — and expensive — security, allowed out only for a shower or for recreation.

Many are kept there for years, some for so long that they complete their sentence and go home directly from solitary confinement, having received little if any rehabilitation.

Prison officials say the convicts assigned to "ad seg" are a danger to themselves or others, are confirmed gang members or are escape risks.

They say the inmates are evaluated constantly to see whether they can be moved back into the general prison population.

Critics counter that Texas' current system is cruel and inhumane. And they say that other states have downsized their costly solitary programs with no problems.

Mississippi cut its high-security population from about 1,000 to 57, and Michigan has plans to do the same — a move officials have estimated could save the state $262 million.

"There's people I'd like to put in a box for 23 hours, but is it effective?" asked Rep. Marisa Marquez, D-El Paso, the author of the bill. "Is this really something that's necessary?"
The fiscal note on the bill says savings cannot be calculated because TDCJ would have to implement extra, unspecified new security measures if it reduce the ad seg population. "According to TDCJ, on August 31, 2010, approximately 6 percent of offenders incarcerated in prison had a custody status indicating administrative segregation; 99 percent were classified as a danger to others; 71.9 percent of those inmates were classified as being a member of a security threat group or a clique. On August 31, 2010, approximately 1 percent of the confinees had a custody status indicating special management; 97 percent of those inmates were classified as being a member of a security threat group or a clique."

Ward mentions Chairman Madden's shock probation legislation and suggestions to parole nonviolent illegal immigrants, see here, which would result in big savings, adding that, "More savings are contained in the obscure verbiage in dozens of other bills, including ones that would replace the state-funded Windham School District, which educates only prisoners, with a new adult education program; merge the state's juvenile justice agencies; deport foreign-citizen felons; charge prisoners more for their health care; and abolish free-rent housing and other perks for state prison employees." Ward also adds, though, that:
Many of the newest cost-cutting proposals under consideration seem to have support in the House, at least enough to perhaps gain the approval of Madden's committee, but Senate support remains uncertain. The Senate has proposed fewer cuts than were approved by the House in its budget plan.

The proposed Senate budget, which is pending in committee and has not yet been debated or approved by the full chamber, would generally make fewer cuts in most corrections programs, especially treatment and rehabilitation initiatives.
That seems like an accurate assessment. The House budget would cut so deeply that legislators have no choice but to consider ideas, like reducing use of solitary confinement, that would literally have been unthinkable, even laughable, in sessions when budgets were flush. If legislators are going to cut as much as the House and the Governor recommended, the need to reduce incarceration pressure becomes quite immediate, necessitating such radical measures even with advent of the new GOP supermajority. Party labels aside, budget crises have a way of sharpening pols' focus.

12 comments:

  1. It is not solitary confinement. They dont even Know the names of the areas they are talking about. Please do some research before changing things. and then come spend sometime with the offenders in Administrative Segregation. Some of the Offenders will assault you for just coming by their cell. This will put the staff in more danger. Please look at the assault records of these offenders.

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  2. 12:42, yes it is solitary confinement. It's one thing to critique the details of the proposal (I'd really suggest actually reading the bill before commenting much further), but don't pretend there's some inherent merit to TDCJ bureaucratese. "Ad seg" is just a politically correct term for solitary confinement.

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  3. My understanding is that a majority of the offenders now in Ad Seg at the Stiles Unit are there as punishment for cell phone cases. I would expect the same at other units since it is State Classifications recommending the Seg. Although Seg is not suppose to be used as "punishment", that is exactly what it is for many of the newly admitted Seg population. They generally stay there for 18 - 24 months for a cell phone case, with good behavior during that time. A case for anything, no matter how minor would start the entire timeline over again. This feedback has come from one of the Majors at the unit and the State Classifications.

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  4. grits for breakfast how long have you worked the system. check your facts on what solitary can have and what Ad Seg can have. Solitary is not considered as part if Administrative Segregaton. The Administrative Segregeaton Policy consist of Security Detention, Prehearing Dentention, Protective Custody and Temporary Dentention. Did you know that I do not see solitary in the policies. If you do please tell me the policy. Solitary is governed by it own policy. Learn your policies before you act like you know them. Oh and sense you have never worked for TDCJ you dont know the dangers. dont think writing about it or visiting a Unit makes you an expert come on in and put on a uniform for a while.

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  5. Let's KEEP administrative segregation and let some non-violent dopers out on parole. Prison should be for the worst of the worst and I am going to assume (I know what you're going to say about assuming) that TDCJ knows what its doing putting some of these folks in solitary.

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  6. Yes, Grits, it is solitary, Its not solitary as in the old school solitary but it is solitary as they define it today. I dont think they put the big metal door on the solitary cells anymore. In my day it was complete darkness, a piece of bread twice a day and 1 meal of pretty bad vegies every three days. It made you want to act right. Ad seg is a toned down version. We were also not allowed to talk while in solitary

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  7. RIF'd employee4/19/2011 01:34:00 PM

    just out of curiousity...grits, I'm curious how many prison units you have toured and worked on?

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  8. The bill does not propose completely getting rid of Ad Seg, Solitary, whatever we are going to call it. It should not be an indefinite confinement though. It should only house the people that are truly a risk. Ad Seg is used as a punishment to those that may not really be an "assaultive" risk to anyone.

    12:42 suggested that we look at the assault records of the offender in Seg, well let's do that. I guarantee there are offenders sitting in seg that have no assaultive records while in TDCJ. The point of the bill is to make Ad Seg primarily for those assaultive offenders, quit using it as punishment because it is very costly to provide the additional security. Spending a little more resources to take time and properly evaluate who needs to be there and how long will save in the long run.

    When you start overflowing Seg with people that don't need to be there then you start diminshing the security of the program. COs are complaining that there is not enough time to do their jobs with so many offenders in Seg. It is impossible to shake them down, give them their showers, give them rec, feed the meals. The simple solution is to evaluate who really needs to be there and move people out of it if they are not truly a risk.

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  9. RIF'd employee said...

    just out of curiousity...grits, I'm curious how many prison units you have toured and worked on?

    4/19/2011 01:34:00 PM
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    I'm sure your "guided tour" would include Polunsky (complete with death row gassings) perhaps Stiles and Beto. How about Price Daniel or one of the pole barns bursting at the seams with non-violent dopers????

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  10. RIF'd employee4/19/2011 10:06:00 PM

    no guided tour from me...as obviously... I am RIF'd! Was just curious as a new watcher of grits & seeing how frequently he comments on stuff that does involve TDCJ, I was curious how in-tune he was to COs,non-COs & has actually walked inside a unit before. You can't really have a guy commentating on sports when he hasn't played sports a day in his life, can you?

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  11. 6:29, yes, I realize there are different brands of Ad Seg, but all the jargon and bureaucratese you prefer - because it shows you work in the system and hence in your mind confirms your expertise over all others - doesnt change the fact of what Ad Seg is, which is the place where prisoners are held in individual cells 23 hours a day away from the general population. To the average reader outside the bureaucracy, and as a practical matter, that's solitary confinement. "Ad seg" and the variants you name are bureaucratic euphemisms, and while your job certainly gives you expertise I'll never have, it also gives you a myopia that makes you focus too intently on a lingusitic distinction without a substantive difference.

    RIF'd employee, nobody forced you to come here and if you don't find what you read credible, don't come back. I say what I think and link to my sources so you can evaluate them for yourself. If you think I'm wrong, there's always a forum here for you to say so, and why.

    Besides, guess what? None of those legislators or their staff have ever worked in a prison, either, but they're the ones who write laws governing what goes on there. This idea that nobody gets to have an opinion if they don't draw a check as a CO may allow you a comforting sense of self-importance, but in the real world there are a lot more stakeolders than that.

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  12. Ad-Seg---from one what has worked in Ad-seg as a CO. They should release all the gang members or clique members from seg and move them to population because it doesn't seem to slow down gang acitvity any. Also there are inmates in seg for their own protection.

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