Overcrowding in Texas Prison System

In an interesting blog on Grits for Breakfast, the issue of the Texas prison and jail system is analyzed. Commenting on a story in the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the author comments on some important information left out of the report. Most noticeable to the author is the fact that most counties “now receive more inmates back into their communities than they send to TDCJ” because of a full prison system. The author then goes on to list several statistics about the percentages of people within the prison system who fall under different offense categories such as drug-related offenses, robbery, and violent offenders. Another issue addressed in this blog is counties “underutilizing” the Texas SAFP program which is a drug treatment program.


Addressing the citizens of Texans on the issue of the full prison system in Texas, the author uses a lot of statistical information to get across to the reader that some changes in the way criminals are handled according to their crimes needs to be addressed. Although this is a “left leaning” blog, the author does a great job of showing very little bias throughout the article. If there is any bias to be seen at all, it is in the author’s view of how criminals should be handled, which is scarcely, if at all, found in the article. The author’s blog is very interesting information, but there does not seem to be much logic or an overall statement to the argument, it just appears to be an overview of the newspaper article referenced to in the post. Essentially, the author using data speaks for itself, and very little commentary is given.


Personally, the most striking evidence in this blog post is the low statistics on the amount of drug offenders sent for drug treatment at the SAFP programs. As discussed in another blog, the treatment of criminals is the most sure-fire way to make sure that overcrowding in Texas prisons starts to become resolved. We wonder why there are so many repeat drug offenders showing up in prisons (36.5% of parole revocations)? Understanding that a majority of these people have a disease, and all that some of them need is some help, would be beneficial to everyone involved – especially citizens of Texas. It would reduce the amount of repeat drug offenders, help with the overcrowding of the prisons, and add people that contribute to society and Texas communities. Having “unused SAFP beds” is unacceptable to me. As it appears was the blog author’s strategy in the summary of the article – the statistics speak for themselves.