Texas will close more prisons in 2017 than it has in any other year in history. The prison closures are possible because of a decrease in crime as well as an increase in options for resolving criminal cases without resorting to incarceration. Four prisons will get closed this year, which brings the total amount of closures to eight facilities over a period of six years.
The decrease in crimes being committed in Texas has been taking place gradually over the past decade or so. During that same time frame, lawmakers have brought about changes that give some individuals who get charged with crimes other options besides going to prison. Programs like diversion not only help Texans stay out of prison, they help them address the underlying issues that landed them there in the first place and give them the support and skills that they can use to choose different paths for their lives. For individuals that get charged with criminal behavior that is likely the result of a mental illness, mental health services provide a chance for a better life, instead of just passing the time behind bars only to be troubled by the same issues while they get incarcerated and after they are released. Legislative changes also contributed to a reduction in criminal charges and therefore a reduction in the amount of prison beds that the state needs. Property crime laws got overhauled in 2015, relieving the state of laws that doled out felony punishments to people who stole items that were worth very little. Reforms in other areas of the law have gotten proposed, but they have yet to pass, so it is unclear which, if any initiatives like changes to drug crime laws and modifications to age requirements for incarceration, will eventually become law.
The closure of Texas prisons started with the massive Central Unit in Sugar Land, followed by the Jesse R. Dawson State Jail and a pre-parole unit in Mineral Wells. Some of the facilities that got closed were state-run facilities and others, such as a privately operated intermediate sanctions facility in Houston that got closed last year. The decrease in the number of available prison beds had not created a shortage of beds, though, because the number of people who are getting sent to jail continues to drop. When prisons get closed, inmates get brought to other facilities and staff are also reassigned to other facilities, which has alleviated some of the problems that those facilities had been having with hiring and retaining good employees.
Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra – Strong and Confident Assistance for Texas Defendants
Texas defendants might not know just how many options they might have for resolving their criminal cases. If you got charged with a crime, you might be able to work with an attorney to find an outcome that meets your needs better than you might expect. To learn more, call Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra, at (903) 753-7499 or connect with us through our online contact form.