The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

As part of the changes, judges would be encouraged to sentence to probation people convicted of such things as theft, drug possession and property crimes.

In a rare public hearing involving the disparate parts of the current system, judges, prosecutors and probation and prison officials gave their initial blessing to the proposals.

Today, the House Appropriations criminal justice subcommittee is to begin work on legislation and a budget for the changes that, if approved, could bring a profound shift in how Texas deals with low-level criminals.

Rather than imprison more and more criminals at a skyrocketing cost, legislative leaders for the first time in decades are pressing to bolster probation and other community supervision programs that cost about $2 per offender per day. Each prison bed costs about $40 a day.

Subcommittee Chairman Sylvester Turner, D-Houston, likened the changes to how his parents raised him and his eight brothers and sisters.

"Some of us would get out of line, and we would be told, 'That was wrong. Don't do it again.' And they let us go about our business," he said. "For those who needed closer supervision, they would keep a hand on us and an eye on us. The system we're creating here must do that.

"We're not asking to let anybody go free. We're not asking judges to turn their head on holding people accountable for their crimes. We're not asking to go easy on anybody. We're just looking for a way to make the system work better for everyone than it is now."

After the hearing, Turner said the plan centers on allocating $62 million for temporary prison beds to hold a convict population that could exceed capacity as soon as next month. But rather than spend that money directly on beds, he said, incentives written into the law will allow counties to use the money for new probation and com- munity supervision programs.

Committee members also said they support additional money for local drug treatment programs, significant reductions in probation officers' caseloads, beefed-up community service programs, even special probation halfway houses or "night jails," where offenders could work during the day and serve their sentences at night.

Rep. Pat Haggerty, R-El Paso, predicted that the local programs will cost much less than incarcerating low-level offenders in a state prison.

Of special interest Tuesday was a pilot probation program in Fort Bend County, which in just a few months has reduced by more than 30 percent the number of convicts on probation sent on to prison for rule violations. If taken statewide, that program could mean tens of thousands fewer inmates in state prisons, Turner said.

The Fort Bend program is financed by a $360,000 state grant.

"For every buck we're putting in, we're saving the state two bucks," said Leighton Isles, director of the Fort Bend Community Supervision and Corrections Department.

Turner said that for the reforms to work, all of the people involved with the justice system "have to buy in."

And though judges and prosecutors indicated that they supported the proposals, several cautioned that the new system needs to be properly funded and flexible to work.

"The options have to include residential facilities, or else we won't have the options we need to make this work," said Michael Bernard, Bexar County's first assistant district attorney.

Troy Cotton, a Harris County assistant district attorney, echoed that sentiment. "We know we can't put a drug offender back on the street without treatment and make it work," he said.

Phillip Kazen, a state district judge in San Antonio, told the committee that the proposal is an opportunity for Texas.

"We may never have this opportunity . . . again," he said.