Saving TDCJ's bacon: Cool pigs vs. overheated inmates

Though TDCJ wouldn't comment, the Huntsville Item has a followup story to Grits' revelation that the state prison agency has purchased air conditioned housing for its hogs while prisoners and COs sweat it out in the summer heat. The paper quoted a handbook on pork management declaring "the most comfortable temperature for the sow is approximately 60°F to 65°F," while for their first three days, newborn piglets prefer a temperature around 85°F to 90°F. A snarky commenter pointed out, "Makes you wonder how in the world those poor feral pigs running loose can survive without air conditioning, doesn't it? Isn't it AMAZING they've done so well considering the poor conditions they have?" Indeed! Surely pigs will reproduce even if the sow is not the "most comfortable" it can possibly be. After all, Texans raised hogs long before air conditioning was ever invented. Scott Medlock from the Texas Civil Rights Project' framed the issue differently, telling the paper that "TDCJ has literally made the decision that protecting its bacon is more important than protecting human lives."

The article closes with this background on the agency's agriculture operations:

85°F to 90°

the most comfortable temperature for the sow is approximately 60°F to 65°F - See more at: http://itemonline.com/local/x31525461/Pigs-not-inmates-get-TDCJ-air-conditioning#sthash.hU7FwOjc.dpuf"

Raising livestock isn’t new to TDCJ. The agribusiness department operates and manages more than 141,000 acres in 47 Texas counties with 300 employees more than 6,000 offenders as supplemental labor. This includes not only livestock in the forms of beef cattle, horses and poultry but also 24 different edible crops over more than 4,800 acres and non-edible and feed crops like corn and cotton over more than 36,000 acres.

TDCJ also processes the edible and non-edible livestock and crops for prison use in cafeterias and sells excess produce in farm shops. Inmates are used in these processes as both labor and for training purposes to develop post-correctional skills.

TDCJ works with the Texas Association of Second Harvest Food Banks to provide needy families food as well using excess produce.

The system produces crops and livestock in order to help maintain self-sufficient productivity to reduce contract food supplies, according to TDCJ agribusiness goals.

The state of Texas gave TDCJ an annual budget of $92.7 million to feed inmates for 2012-2013, after denying a $5 million request to increase food allowance. That budget allotment was the same as granted in 2011-2012, which had been reduced by nearly $8 million from the prior year.

It’s unknown if the increase in number of swine farrowing units is part of a larger plan to increase internal food production, which would decrease the net cost to TDCJ and avoid rising food costs.

Title 4,  Section 497.023 of the Texas Government Code requires the Texas Corrections Industries, which includes livestock raising and crop growth, exists to provide inmates with employable skills after time served and “reduce department costs by providing products and articles for the department and providing products or articles for sale on a for-profit basis to the public or to agencies of the state or political subdivisions of the state.”

It grants the TDCJ board the ability to decide which programs are most suitable and efficient for the department.

The department also purchases recurring contracts for dining services from ARAMARK for certain correction facilities, sow feed, green beans, sweet potatoes, crop-dusting and chemical processing for TDCJ-produced clothing; as well as one-time contracts with Texas A&M University for veterinary services and the aforementioned farrowing units.

Grits doesn't have a big problem with air-conditioned swine houses per se. But the contrast between the sweltering employees and inmates in Texas prison units compared to concerns over what makes hogs the "most comfortable" is both stark and indicative of the system's values and priorities.

AND MORE: The Austin Statesman's Mike Ward picked up the story, which quote a union official representing COs who "called for Texas prisons to get the same “climate-controlled environment” as the hog barns/" TDCJ says the two issues aren't comparable. SEE ALSO: Coverage from the Texas Tribune. And KWTX. AND MORE: Here's AP's version, which is now being published in other states. Apparently this post has launched a media meme.

Raising livestock isn’t new to TDCJ. The agribusiness department operates and manages more than 141,000 acres in 47 Texas counties with 300 employees more than 6,000 offenders as supplemental labor. This includes not only livestock in the forms of beef cattle, horses and poultry but also 24 different edible crops over more than 4,800 acres and non-edible and feed crops like corn and cotton over more than 36,000 acres.

TDCJ also processes the edible and non-edible livestock and crops for prison use in cafeterias and sells excess produce in farm shops. Inmates are used in these processes as both labor and for training purposes to develop post-correctional skills.

TDCJ works with the Texas Association of Second Harvest Food Banks to provide needy families food as well using excess produce.

The system produces crops and livestock in order to help maintain self-sufficient productivity to reduce contract food supplies, according to TDCJ agribusiness goals.

The state of Texas gave TDCJ an annual budget of $92.7 million to feed inmates for 2012-2013, after denying a $5 million request to increase food allowance. That budget allotment was the same as granted in 2011-2012, which had been reduced by nearly $8 million from the prior year.

It’s unknown if the increase in number of swine farrowing units is part of a larger plan to increase internal food production, which would decrease the net cost to TDCJ and avoid rising food costs.

Title 4,  Section 497.023 of the Texas Government Code requires the Texas Corrections Industries, which includes livestock raising and crop growth, exists to provide inmates with employable skills after time served and “reduce department costs by providing products and articles for the department and providing products or articles for sale on a for-profit basis to the public or to agencies of the state or political subdivisions of the state.”

It grants the TDCJ board the ability to decide which programs are most suitable and efficient for the department.

The department also purchases recurring contracts for dining services from ARAMARK for certain correction facilities, sow feed, green beans, sweet potatoes, crop-dusting and chemical processing for TDCJ-produced clothing; as well as one-time contracts with Texas A&M University for veterinary services and the aforementioned farrowing units. - See more at: http://itemonline.com/local/x31525461/Pigs-not-inmates-get-TDCJ-air-conditioning#sthash.hU7FwOjc.dpuf