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Criminal justice
June 25, 2008
Supreme Court strikes down death penalty for child rape
The U.S. Supreme Court this morning struck down a Louisiana law imposing the death penalty for child rape.
The death penalty “is not a proper punishment for the rape of a child,” Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote in the majority opinion. The decision was 5-4.
This decision threatens Jessica’s Law, which the Texas Legislature passed last year to give the death penalty as an option for repeat child rapists.
More to come.
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June 24, 2008
DPS under Sunset fire
The Texas Department of Public Safety drew intense criticism today from members of the Sunset Advisory Commission, who voiced a lack of confidence in current management over a series of continuing problems.
Members proposed removing all auto licensing and inspection programs from DPS to a new agency that would also combine registration programs now handled by the Texas Department of Transportation.
The criticism stemmed from a recent Sunset report that harshly criticized several operations at the agency, and recommended significant reforms in drivers licensing, information technology and the department’s overall management structure, among other things.
While DPS director Thomas Davis Jr. defended the agency as “operating better than I’ve ever seen it” in his 43 years there, commission members were unconvinced. Public Safety Commission Chairman Allan Polunsky acknowledged “we have some glaring weaknesses,” and pledged significant reforms— sooner rather than later.
“The buck is going to stop with me,” Polunsky said at one point. “If we don’t reform this department and make it relevant to the 21st Century, then that will mean I have failed.”
As for the June 8 arson fire at the Governor’s Mansion that revealed glaring DPS security lapses? Nary a question was asked.
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April 21, 2008
Vita Pro up again?
Late word was circulating today that the Vita Pro case, the Texas prison system’s long-running scandals, may be back on the menu.
According to law enforcement sources, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes of Houston has scheduled a Tuesday morning retrial to begin in the famous case, which saw prisons director Andy Collins and a Canadian entrepreneur and ex-con named Yank Barry indicted and convicted in a bribery, conspiracy and money laundering case dating to 1995.
In 2001, after a headline-grabbing, weeks-long trial, a federal jury found that Barry paid two $10,000 bribes to Collins for pushing a no-bid contract with VitaPro to feed its product to Texas convicts while Collins was the prison system’s executive director.
VitaPro was a soy-based meat alternative that prison officials put on chow lines — and at one point even sold to other states — as a way to save money, shortly before Austin American-Statesman published the first details of the no-bid, $33 million deal and a flurry of investigations began.
The case grabbed headlines for years thereafter, in a chain of events bordering at times on the bizarre.
The resulting ethics scandal in the prison system brought a housecleaning in the top ranks of the prison system, the first ethics code for prison administrators and a quick drop from the menu amid complaints that the soy additive made convicts flatulent.
A key witness in the case was Patrick Graham, a government informant who was also the key witness in the prosecution of former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards and former Houston Mayor Fred Hofheinz on corruption charges.
After trial, the case was derailed by a court reporter who was accused of messing up the official transcript and delayed the subsequent appeals by Collins and Barry for years.
In September 2005, Hughes threw out the guilty verdicts, ruling that Graham lied. But last August, a federal appears court ordered a new trial, insisting that the jury knew of Graham’s “poor character” and found Collins and Barry guilty anyway.
While the reports of the impending new development in the case could not be independently confirmed with court officials and lawyers this evening, if true, they would indicate a final chapter might be in the offing for the biggest Texas scandal in decades.
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April 10, 2008
New prison board chair
Austin businessman Oliver Bell has been named chairman of the Texas prison system’s governing board, likely the first African-American ever to hold the post and the first Austinite in decades.
Bell replaces Dallas resident Christina Melton Crain, whose term expired.
Crain will be replaced on the board by Lubbock attorney J. David Nelson. A graduate of Texas Tech, Nelson is an attorney and a partner in the law firm of Nelson & Nelson.
Nelson will serve until February 2013.
Bell, who has served on the nine-member board for four years, is the first chair from Austin in decades. He may also be the first African-American chair.
Crain and prison officials announced the appointments in electronic messages to prison brass, and Perry’s office confirmed it this afternoon.
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April 2, 2008
Parole law the problem?
Criticized for not following mandatory parole guidelines, Texas’ top parole official told the Senate Criminal Justice Committee the problem is not the parole board’s fault.
It’s the law, insisted Rissie Owens, chairwoman of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.
Under state law, the parole board must explain its decisions if they deviate from parole guidelines.
For years, they have not done so. And for years, they have been criticized for violating state law, without much explanation.
“When we vote on a case, we don’t know whether we are deviating from the guidelines … because the guidelines are based on percentages, and we don’t see those percentages until the next month,” Owens explained.
So the law is the problem? asked state Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen.
Yes, responded Owens. The guidelines set certain percentages of cases for approval, she said later.
Committee Chairman John Whitmire, who has been after the parole board for months for not following the law, said he remains unconvinced. After all, the Houston Democrat said, the parole board knows when it votes what the guidelines for approving an individual case are, and if it goes against that then it should know right then.
It’s semantics, he said.
“If we need to change the law to make it clearer for the members of the parole board, then we may do that,” he said.
Bottom line for most Texans: The more the parole board follows its guidelines, the more people who are good risks may be paroled. The more it does not, the more people who stay in prison.
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March 27, 2008
State approves prison guard pay hike
Starting pay for Texas’ correctional officers will get a 10 percent boost in May.
The Texas Board of Criminal Justice this morning unanimously approved raising the starting pay for guards from $23,046 to $25,416, and jumping up the pay about as much for those who stay on the job for 16 months.
Officials said the pay hike will affect about 8,000 correctional officers.
In addition, the board also approved giving new hires a $1,500 bonus to sign up at prisons that are the most understaffed. Twenty-two state prisons are have less than 80 percent of the guards they should have.
State prisons have been critically short of guards for months and months. The turnover rate for new officers within their first year on the job is 43 percent, compared to 24 percent overall.
Brad Livingston, executive director of the prison system, said the pay increase — the largest in years — is designed to avoid even more critical staffing shortages during the late spring and summer, the times of the year when vacancies are highest.
“We hope this makes a difference,” he said. “Our (correctional officer) staffing is the most critical issue we face.”
When prisons are short of guards, convicts cannot always be supervised as closely as they should be, and some prisons have been forced to keep inmates confined to their cells to avoid trouble.
Livingston said his agency is about 3,500 guards short.
Cost of the pay hike? Almost $20 million, including $15 million for the higher pay and $4.5 million for the signing bonuses, according to Livingston.
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January 31, 2008
Prison growth flat
Texas’ prison population is growing slower than expected, and new prisons will not be needed within the next two years as earlier projected.
That’s the conclusion of a Legislative Budget Board study to be made public on Monday, a report that attributes the good news on a slowdown in the number of new felons, a slightly increased parole rate, fewer revocations to prison from probation and parole and the projected impact of new treatment and rehabilitation programs approved by the Legislature last year.
The report has been eagerly awaited by prison officials and legislative leaders, since it is the first hint on whether two expensive new prisons — authorized by voters in November — would have to be built.
Their construction could have triggered other problems, as well, as existing prisons struggle with chronic staffing shortages that have recently raised security fears and legislative concern.
Details: The report predicts Texas’ incarcerated population will average 156,364 this year, and rise to 158,470 in 2012.
That’s much less than projected a year ago. Then, the state was estimated to be more than 17,000 beds short by 2012, at growth rates at the time.
Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire and House Corrections Committee Chairman Jerry Madden, advocates of the $218 million in new diversion and treatment programs, hailed the news.
Those megabucks include funding for more than 5,700 new prison beds — most of them in treatment and rehab programs, not traditional prisons.
“For years, Texas has been the toughest state in the nation on crime,” Whitmire said. “With the expanded treatment and the new diversion beds … Texas will continue to be the toughest on crime, but we will nows also be the smartest.”
Madden: “Not only are we saving taxpayer money by creating diversion programs, we are also strengthening public safety by increasing our prison capacity. The additional beds will ensure we have space to lock up violent and repeat offenders, but the state will also save money in the long run by treating and diverting low-level offenders.”
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January 30, 2008
Valentines Day? Off
To some, it perhaps hinted at a kinder, gentler Texas prison system, on a portion of the agency’s Web site that wished viewers Happy Valentine’s Day in a sweet, bottom-of-the-page graphic.
It showed two silhouetted lovers, sitting on a bench beneath a tree, holding hands.
How nice.
We happened upon the sweet sentiment this afternooon while surfing the Texas Correctional Industries pages of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s site.
A quick call to prison officials initially drew surprise — followed by a very un-cupid-like response.
“Apparently a graphic artist at TCI was trying to spruce up their site, and they added it,” explained Michelle Lyons, a TDCJ spokeswoman in Huntsville. “It had gone completely unnoticed … I didn’t know it was there.”
Bottom line: “It’s being taken off now.”
Within an hour, the holiday greeting was gone.
Okay, so no more touchy-feely. Enough of that Happy Valentine’s Day stuff.
An no word on whether other the site had conveyed holiday sentiments unbeknownst to prison brass.
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January 29, 2008
TSEU on TYC
With rumors swirling that Texas Youth Commission soon plans to launch a whole series new reforms, after controversy over some launched in past months, the Texas State Employees Union weighed in this afternoon on what it thinks should be done.
Top of their list: Shift your emphasis away from corrections and more toward rehabilitating youth.
“It’s intended to be a blueprint for substantially improving the quality of services provided by TYC,” said Seth Hutchinson, TSEU’s lead organizer at TYC.
Highlights of the union’s list:
Provide a safe environment for both youth and staff.
Provide quality rehab programs to youth.
Use community-based centers to keep youths closer to their families.
Stop privatizing rehab and treatment programs.
Youth Commission officials have remained mum on their upcoming plans.
See the full list.
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Too-short TYC search?
The Texas Youth Commission’s five-day application period for a new executive director is under fire.
Too secretive, complains Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project. “A sham and harmful to TYC reform efforts,” he says.
“Unless someone knew what to look for, you could easily miss it, and I think that is clearly intentional,” Harrington said in a statement. “Virtually all the top-level administrative positions are ‘open until filled’.”
He continues: “This position is the most critical one for TYC, especially after all the scandal. The state should be conducting an intensive search for the right person for this leadership position, a search that could take as long as three months. When a job opening like this is only posted for 5 workdays — and not even prominently displayed, but buried deep in general employment listings — one smells duplicity and that a ‘fix is in’ for a particular candidate.”
Harrington wants Gov. Rick Perry and legislative leaders to order the application period extended. So far, none have.
Youth Commission Conservator Richard Nedelkoff earlier said he planned to act with all deliberate speed in filling the agency’s top jobs, to ensure that the ongoing reforms stick.
Most of the agency’s top management was kicked out last spring amid a sex-abuse and cover-up scandal, and Perry earlier placed the agency under conservatorship — a form of receivership — to ensure that reforms were made.
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January 23, 2008
Prison board approves phones for inmates
In an historic step, without debate or dissent, the Texas prison system’s governing board this afternoon approved a new rule that will give most convicts regular access to pay telephones — the last state in the nation to do so.
The unanimous vote came after the Legislature last spring enacted a law mandating the phones, one for every 30 convicts in the nation’s third-largest corrections system that houses 154,000 felons.
With approximately 120,000 convicts expected to be eligible to make calls — minus those in solitary confinement and disciplinary cells — that could mean 4,000 phones in Texas’ 112 prisons. And with cutting-edge technology, to boot.
Under the policy, the pay-phone system will use technology called “personal 22biometric identifiers” — fingerprints, retina scans or voice recognition — to allow only approved convicts to make calls from dayrooms in their cellblocks, in dorms and at other locations inside prisons.
“Technology has improved to allow us to ensure security,” said Brad Livingston, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Added Christina Melton Crain, chairman of the prison board: PThat’s a big, big part of the reason we can do this.”
While once a highly controversial topic — gubernatorial candidates a decade ago vowed never to allow prison phones, corrections directors predicted it would lead to criminal enterprises being run behind bars — the project now comes with a hefty financial enticement: The state could earn well over $15 million in commissions on convicts’ calls.
But ringing phones from incarcerated felons promise to be months off. Though the ban has officially been lifted, prison officials must now develop specifications for what kind of multimillion-dollar phone system they want, after which they will have to solicit bids from vendors that have been lobbying intensely for several years for the change.
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December 10, 2007
Prison board: 3 new members
The state prison system’s nine-member governing board has three new members.
Gov. Rick Perry announced this afternoon the appointments of Dallas attorney Eric Gambrell, San Antonio businessman R. Terrell McCombs and Arlington social worker Janice Harris Lord.
The vitals on each, from Perry’s office:
Gambrell of Highland Park is a trial partner with the law firm of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer and Feld, and is a member of the Town of Highland Park Zoning Commission. He also is chair of the Dallas Bar Association Memorial and History Committee, a nominating committee member and fellow of the Texas Bar Foundation, and a past member of the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas Campaign Cabinet.
He received a bachelors degree from Texas A&M University and a law degree from the University of Texas. He replaces Pierce Miller of San Angelo and his term will expire Feb. 1, 2013.
McCombs is vice president of McCombs Enterprises, and is an executive board member of the San Antonio Sports Foundation and the University Health System Foundation. He is also a past chairman of the North San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, and chairman of the Joint City/County Bond Oversight Commission and San Antonio Mobility Coalition Inc.
McCombs received a bachelors degree from the University of Houston and a masters degree in business from George Washington University. He replaces Adrian Arriaga of McAllen. His term will expire Feb. 1, 2013.
Lord is a national consultant on crime victim issues, a member of the National Consortium of Crime Victim Assistance Standards and a curriculum developer for the National Victim Assistance Academy and Texas Victim Assistance Academy. She has a broad background focusing on homicide, catastrophic injury, death notification, ethics in victim services, and spiritually-sensitive victim services.
Lord received a bachelors degree from Phillips University and a masters degree from the University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work. She replaces Patricia Day of Dallas. Her term will expire Feb. 1, 2009.
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December 5, 2007
Corrections veteran hired by prison operator
Gary Johnson, the former head of Texas’ prison system, has been hired as a regional vice president for a Florida-based operator of private prisons that became mired in controversy two months ago over conditions at a West Texas youth lockup.
Geo Group Inc. announced that Johnson will head its central region, which includes Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. The territory includes the ill-fated Coke County Juvenile Justice Center, which made headlines in October after Texas Youth Commission officials yanked more than 100 youths from the lockup after alleging squalid conditions.
Geo operates private prisons in several states and in other countries.
Johnson replaces Don Houston, who heads to the firm’s Florida office. Its Texas office is in New Braunfels.
Johnson, a veteran corrections official, served as executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice from August 2001 until he retired in late 2004 after 28 years. He has since been a corrections management consultant based in Austin.
He could not immediately be reached for comment.
His wife, Bonita White, is director of the criminal justice agency’s Community Justice Assistance Division.
While Johnson was executive director, the agency signed five-year contracts with Geo to house state prisoners at several lockups. He will oversee the operation of those lockups in his new job at Geo.
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Judge Meurer weighing DA race
The long line of would-be successors to Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle just got longer.
State District Judge Jeanne Meurer, who’s retiring from the bench after 20 years, confirmed Wednesday that she’s weighing a race if Earle retires after more than three decades in office.
“It’s a high probability,” said Meurer about her possible candidacy.
But she added that she hasn’t made a final decision because Earle hasn’t announced his intentions.
“It’s real easy to say you’ve made a decision when there isn’t a decision to make,” Meurer said. “I’m very serious about it, but I would never run against Ronnie.”
Would-be candidates began lining up in the wings, pending Earle’s decision, a few weeks ago, although no one apparently would oppose Earle’s re-election.
Among those mentioned as possible candidates are several of Earle’s assistants — Gary Cobb, Rick Reed, Mindy Montford — along with First Assistant County Attorney Randy Leavitt and U.S. Magistrate Robert Pitman.
Although Meurer is retiring from the bench and building a house in Colorado, the 54-year-old judge said she wants to remain “engaged in working in this community.”
Meurer said she talked to the governor’s office about a post at the troubled Texas Youth Commission but nothing came of it.
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November 29, 2007
New TYC med chief
The Texas Youth Commission has a new medical director: Dr. Rajendra Parikh.
Parikh, a pediatrician, will start in February, officials announced this afternoon.
He is currently the medical director of ambulatory pediatrics and a professor of pediatrics at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. Previously, he ran a private pediatric practice in St. Louis.
The job has been open for some time.
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Pepper spray specifics
For all you legal wonks, as requested, here’s the detail on the new pepper-spray restrictions at the Texas Youth Commission.
This, from Advocacy Inc. and Texas Appleseed, the advocacy groups who filed suit to stop a liberalized spray policy :
“Youth with respiratory/health problems that contraindicate use of OC spray will be identified and placed on a” no-spray” list, which will be circulated to all staff authorized to use pepper spray.
“As a general rule, pepper spray should not be used in the TYC facility in Corsicana, which houses youth with mental and emotional issues, unless necessary to prevent loss of life or serious bodily injury.
“If a youth’s mental condition would contraindicate the use of OC pepper spray, a mental health professional must be given an opportunity to establish control of the situation before OC spray is used. The only exception is if use of the spray is necessary to prevent serious bodily injury or loss of life.
“For youth confined in a room in a security unit or an isolation room, pepper spray can only be used when necessary to prevent serious bodily injury or loss of life.
“TYC cannot use OC spray unless a youth’s behavior poses a risk of ‘imminent harm.’ This requires nonverbal aggressive behavior. In the absence of non-verbal aggressive behavior, TYC has agreed that manual restraint must be attempted prior to the use of OC spray.
“In order for TYC staff to use OC pepper spray to protect youth, staff, or others from imminent harm or to prevent an escape, TYC must engage in a two-part test: they must first determine that imminent harm exists and that manual restraint is not a practicable method for dealing with the situation under the circumstances presented.”
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Prison fashion a go
“They look great.”
With those words from members of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, the state’s prison system today got its first fashion makeover in decades.
The gray uniforms worn by guards in the nation’s second-largest prison since the 1960s will be supplemented by a new “Class B” uniform starting in a month or so: A navy polo shirt and gray military-style pants.
It’s a uniform style already worn by prison guards in most other states, officials said.
Nathaniel Quarterman, director of the institutions division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said the new duds will be cooler for correctional officers who wear protective vests and have been well-received by the rank-and-file so far.
The new uniforms are the result of a two-year study, Quarterman said.
Guards who like the old uniforms can still wear them, officials said, in whole or in part. The current pants — gray with a blue stripe down the side seam — can also be worn with the new polo shirts.
The new uniforms were approved earlier by prison officials, and were modeled for the first time publicly on Thursday for the prison system’s governing board. They gave a quick thumbs up.
“They look great,” said Board Chairman Christina Crain of Dallas, echoing comments by others.
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Deal reached on pepper spray
After months of blistering criticism and litigation, Texas Youth Commission officials have agreed to restrict the use of pepper spray on unruly youths.
Two advocacy groups that had sued the troubled agency — Texas Appleseed and Advocacy Inc. — announced that Youth Commission officials have agreed to a compromise after more than a week of negotiations.
Under the deal, pepper spray cannot be used as a first option to control unruly youths, as it has been for several months.
It cannot be used on youths who refuse to obey orders but are not posing a risk of imminent harm. The use of pepper spray will also be limited at the Corsicana Residential Treatment Center that houses offenders with mental impairments.
Youth Commission spokesman Jim Hurley said the consensus covers “how we will proceed from this point forward under the old policy. We look forward to obtaining public comment at the hearing on Monday regarding the new use of force policy that we are proposing.”
Advocacy groups praised the compromise as a step forward.
“This new policy addresses our major issues and, if enforced consistently over the long term by TYC staff, it will better protect incarcerated youth in the state’s care,” said Texas Appleseed Chairman Jim George, lead counsel in a lawsuit filed against the agency by the groups over pepper-spray use.
Richard Lavallo, attorney for Advocacy Inc., said in a statement that he hopes the Youth Commission “will give this policy a chance to work before moving forward with any proposed change in its use of force rules.”
The agency has proposed a policy change that would allow a wider use of pepper spray. A public hearing on that change is set for Monday.
After a court hearing about 10 days ago in which testimony showed the use of pepper spray in Youth Commission lockups had skyrocketed since officials approved the spray as first option, Judge Gisela Triana ordered the two sides to work out a compromise.
“We believe that the Texas Youth Commission is now on record as supporting a more enlightened approach to use of pepper spray than what is being outlined in the proposed new use of force rules,” said Deborah Fowler, legal director for Texas Appleseed.
Texas Appleseed Executive Director Rebecca Lightsey said the Youth Commission has an opportunity to squelch the controversy and enforce a policy that protects both youth and staff. “With adequately trained staff, we would expect to see the numbers of pepper spray incidents drop under this new, clearly defined policy,” she said.
Texas Appleseed and Advocacy Inc. initially reached a settlement agreement with TYC in late September over their lawsuit challenging the legality of an Aug. 2, executive directive instructing employees to use pepper spray to maintain order before other less restrictive interventions, including physical restraints, were used.
The suit alleged the Youth Commission failed to follow the Administrative Procedure Act in changing the pepper spray policy, claiming that three teen-agers with mental and emotional disabilities had been physically or psychologically harmed by pepper spray.
The spray can cause skin burns, disorientation, panic and breathing difficulties, officials have said.
Citing evidence that the Youth Commission was not following the terms of the settlement agreement, the advocacy groups had filed to force compliance. That landed the agency back in Triana’s courtroom and triggered the negotiations.
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November 27, 2007
TYC back on OT
Overtime is okay again at the Texas Youth Commission.
Just a few minutes ago, the agency announced that employees will start being paid for their overtime hours effective immediately.
Hours worked during the past month since OT was suspended will be paid in a special check to be issued by mid-December, according to a statement.
Acting Executive Director Dimitria Pope suspended OT in October after top officials were shocked because the OT bill had used most of the OT budget for the year, in just two months. At the time, agency officials claimed they could not properly track overtime payments and said they were investigating why so many extra hours had been logged.
The move angered many employees, who questioned why Pope and other Austin officials were so surprised by the cost, considering chronic understaffing that was plaguing Youth Commission lockups in many areas.
In this afternoon’s statement, the agency attributed that huge OT bill to “the shortage of juvenile corrections officers at numerous TYC facilities … Another factor was the lack of a uniform staff schedule throughout the institutions.’
Pope promised that a uniform staffing plan will be completed by early January to ensure all overtime worked is evenly distributed among staff, and to “develop strategies to work overtime more efficiently and consistently given the realities of current staff shortages.”
The cost of OT during the time it was suspended: $1.4 million, about what it was in the month prior.
The statement money for all the extra OT being racked up will come from money budgeted for staff positions that are currently vacant.
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Fashion price
From our news item about the proposed new uniforms for Texas prison guards came a flood of response. More than two-dozen emails and calls, in all.
You like the possible change. You really, really hate it. You want to know what it will cost.
From the Home Office in Huntsville: The “retro classic” uniforms cost $26.09 apiece, the new “polo-style” duds $27.62 apiece.
No bargain, perhaps, but not a Neiman Marcus deal either, by a long stretch.
The Texas Board of Criminal Justice, after a scheduled unveiling of the new fashion design, is slated to vote on whether to adopt new design during a Thursday meeting in Austin.
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Pepper spray, an update
Another delay has surfaced in the court-ordered negotiations over use of pepper spray on incracerated youths in Texas.
Attorneys for the scandal-plagued Texas Youth Commission and two advocacy groups that filed suit in September to stop a new liberal “spray first” policy — Texas Appleseed and Advocacy Inc. — were unable to reach an agreeement by noon today.
So, they’re continuing work to try to agree on limitations on when Youth Commission guards and staff can spray — or not sppray.
This is the third extension, after State District Judge Gisela Triana eight days ago ordered both sides to work out an agreement.
Reported hangups: A provision proposed by the state that would allow pepper spray to be used once a high-security cell is opened, but not before. And wording to ensure that youths don’t get sprayed for passive resistence to a guard’s orders — for things like not getting out bed fast enough, not being in compliance with dress code.
Advocates want to ensure that kids aren’t sprayed as a first option, that it is only used after mediation and physical restraints fail. That’s what the agency’s current policy says.
Youth Commission officials say they must be able to use pepper spray to control unruly youths, to protect both staff and youths from injuries. They have insiisted the liberalized pepper-spray rules are necessary to give them flexibility to properly manage their youth lockups.
A deal is possible tomorrow, says a source close to the talks. But as the clock continues to tick, we’re not holding our breath.
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November 26, 2007
Deadline extended, again
A court-imposed deadline for new rules on when pepper spray can be used on youths incarcerated in Texas Youth Commission lockups has been extended again.
Negotiations have been underway for the past week between attorneys for the Youth Commission and two advocacy groups — Texas Appleseed and Advocacy Inc. — over restricting the use of pepper spray until the agency adopts a new use-of-force policy sometime next month.
The two groups sued the agency in September, claiming a new policy allowing the use of pepper spray as an initial option to quell unruly youths violated state law. The agency agreed in October to rescind the controversial rule, ending the suit.
But the case landed back in court a week ago, after the groups alleged in court filings that Youth Commission officials reneged on the deal. And state District Judge Gisela Triana, after hearing testimony that the use of pepper spray has skyrocketed in recent months, ordered the two sides to negotiate an amenable solution.
A Wednesday deadline was extended until today. And according to sources familiar with the negotiations, Triana extended the deadline again — until noon tomorrow — after a deal remained elusive.
Stay tuned.
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Prison guards' uniforms to get makeover
For the first time in almost 40 years, Texas’ prison guards are about to get a fashion makeover.
Officials confirmed today that in coming months, the state’s more than 25,000 correctional officers could begin wearing navy polo shirts and black, military-style pants as an alternative to the gray, police-style uniforms that have been a prison staple since the late 1960s.
Gone will be one longtime staple of prison life: Guards in gray, convicts in white.
One thing will remain the same: American flag on one shirt sleeve, prison-system emblem on the other and a State of Texas seal on the front.
The pants? Two cargo pockets, adjustable waistband.
The change is subject to approval of the prison system’s governing board, which will meet Thursday in Austin to consider the switch. Similar to styles already adopted in most other states, the new uniforms are to be unveiled at that meeting.
“The new uniforms are designed to be more comfortable, especially for those officers who have to wear (protective) vests on duty,” said Michelle Lyons, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
“I think people will be excited about them.”
Most everyone, it seems.
“Its a good move, but there’s been kinda mixed reaction so far because some old-timers like the current uniform that shows their years of service … stripes on the long sleeves, one for every five years of service,” said Brian Olsen, executive director of the union that represents Texas correctional officers,
“Inmates know those stripes. They’re less likely to mess with someone who’s been around for a while.”
Lyons and other prison officials said the new uniforms will be optional. Guards can continue to wear the old uniforms, or they can wear a combination of both.
Like the old uniforms, the new ones will be made by convicts in prison factories, Lyons said. She said the cost is about the same.
The last time Texas changed the uniform was about a decade ago, when the basic gray uniform was modified ever so slightly. Before that, the biggest changes involved allowing female guards to wear slacks instead of skirts and abolishing neckties and hats.
“This has been in the works for a long time, months and months,” Olsen said. “It’s change … and the system is very slow to accept change.”
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November 21, 2007
Pepper spray deadline extended
A deadline for court-ordered negotiations concerning the Texas Youth Commission’s expanded use of pepper spray has been extended until Monday to give both sides more time.
Janis Monger, a spokeswoman for Texas Appleseed, said a report from the talks will be filed next week with state District Judge Gisela Triana, in a court challenge over expanded use of pepper spray on incarcerated youths that was filed in late September by Appleseed and Advocacy Inc.
On Monday, after a hearing in which newly released state statistics showed a drastic increase in the use of pepper spray in recent months, Triana ordered attorneys for the Youth Commission and the two advocacy groups to try to agree on proper restrictions for using pepper spray.
Facing the lawsuit and continuing criticism, the scandal-racked agency is moving to adopt new rules on pepper spray use by sometime in December, officials have said.
The groups sued the agency in September, claiming an Aug. 2 surprise policy change by Acting Executive Director Dimitria Pope violated state law. A settlement was subsequently reached under which the agency rescinded the change and agreed to follow the Administrative Procedures Act in the future.
The Administrative Procedures Act mandates public notice and a public comment period before policy changes.
Then, a few weeks ago, the advocacy groups filed to reopen the court case, alleging that Youth Commission officials were continuing to use pepper spray under the Pope-approved change. That allowed guards and staff to use pepper spray on recalcitrant and misbehaving youths as an initial option, before trying to restrain them, rather than as a last option as required under the previous, longstanding policy.
Pope and other Youth Commission officials have defended the change, saying it was designed to reduce increasing injuries to staff and youths from the use of physical restraints.
But national juvenile-corrections experts have said the use of more pepper spray on incarcerated youths is a step backward, and one that could result in more altercations and a blow to a rehabilitation-centered environment.
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November 16, 2007
TYC pepper spray case to court
Texas Youth Commission officials are getting hauled into court over their pepper spray policy.
Agency officials have been ordered into a Travis County district court Monday morning to explain why they have not complied with an October court settlement in which they agreed to limit the use of pepper spray in juvenile detention lockups.
Under the settlement, Dimitria Pope, the Youth Commission’s acting executive director, agreed to rescind her Aug. 2, 2007, directive allowing guards to use pepper spray more frequently, before they try to physically restrain incarcerated youths.
Attorneys for Texas Appleseed and Advocacy Inc. had sued the Youth Commission to block the expanded pepper-spray use, arguing the change violated state law. Then, two weeks ago, they asked a judge to force the Youth Commission to comply with the settlement — which they quickly promised they would.
They didn’t.
Each of the plaintiffs has a mental illness or serious emotional disability, and one suffered skin burns after being sprayed three times with pepper spray to prevent him from harming himself, according to Texas Appleseed Board Chairman Jim George.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Criminal justice
November 1, 2007
TYC HR chief out
Within days of surprised Texas Youth Commission officials suspending overtime payments because they spent more than half the OT budget during September, the agency’s veteran human resources chief has announced his departure.
Eric Young, who has held the post since February 1991, announced in an e-mail to co-workers that Wednesday was his last day. He gave no reason.
But Jim Hurley, the agency’s spokesman, said the OT flap had nothing to do with it. “I think he’s said he would be leaving,” Hurley said. “The overtime issue did not figure into it as far as I know.”
On Monday, Dimitria Pope, the Youth Commission’s acting executive director, suspended the payment of overtime for guards during November after discovering the supposed cost-overrun. Instead of getting paid, she said guards will “bank” their OT until officials determine whether the expenses are proper.
The move has angered guards statewide, with some insisting they will refuse extra shifts beginning today. If they do, they would face disciplinary action — disobedience of an order to ensure that proper security and staffing levels are maintained at Texas’ youth prisons and halfway houses.
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October 30, 2007
OT suspension sparks furor
The Texas Youth Commission’s decision to suspend the payment of overtime for juvenile correctional officers starting Wednesday until officials can sort out the agency’s latest management snafu is not setting well with the rank-and-file, to say the least.
Our story today about the decision — which came after the agency spent nearly 57 percent of its 12-month OT budget in September alone — sparked a flurry of e-mail and phone calls.
A sampling:
J.T. in Brownwood: “If they’re not paying, I’m not working any OT. A lot of the other JCOs feel the same way … They can fire me … I’ll go to work for TDCJ and make more money anyway.”
M.B. in Crockett: “(The Texas Department of Criminal Justice) forced its COs to bank OT, and that backfired in high turnover … This last (legislative session, the Legislature) outlawed banked OT at TDCJ. So why is TYC still allowed to do it?”
C.C. in Austin: “What”s it gonna take for (Gov. Rick) Perry and the big legislative reformers to see that this place is still a mess? This is not a system failure. It’s a failure of management.”
J.V. in Waco: “Thanks for the story. Keep telling the public what it’s like here. It’s still a mess. I often ask myself what’s fixed.”
T.C in Austin: “When will you and the rest of the press go away and leave this agency alone so it can make the changes that are necessary? You can’t do that under a microscope.”
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October 18, 2007
South Texas prison riot
A privately run South Texas prison remained on lockdown Thursday after a dispute between rival prison gangs over control of cellblock tables erupted into a running chain of violence that left 19 convicts hurt.
Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, who has demanded greater scrutiny of private prisons in recent weeks after a West Texas youth lockup was closed three weeks ago because of squalid conditions, called for a full investigation into why the episode took so long to quell.
State prison officials promised that such an inquiry already was underway.
Officials with Corrections Corporation of America, which runs the 1,069-bed Willacy County State Jail, did not immediately return phone calls for comment.
State officials released this timeline:
At approximately 9:45 a.m. Wednesday, a disturbance erupted between members of several rival gangs in one of the facility’s four 54-bed housing areas. Convicts simultaneously began assaulting each other.
The initial disturbance, involving approximately 50 convicts, was quelled after guards used pepper spray and chemical grenades.
Two hours later, new fighting broke out. Eight separate fights between convicts were reported during the next few hours in dorms and a classroom. Most were quelled with chemical grenades.
Reputed members of the Texas Syndicate, Mexican Mafia and three street-gang cliques were involved in the disturbance, according to investigators. No serious injuries were reported and no staff members were injured.
By Thursday afternoon, investigators said six assailants were in custody.
Whitmire said the disturbance underscores the need for close monitoring of privately run prisons in Texas, many of them located in remote rural areas.
“We were very fortunate it was brought under control with no more serious injuries than there were,” the Houston Democrat said.
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October 12, 2007
Two youth prison officials fired
The top two officials at a troubled West Texas youth prison were fired late Thursday after their supervisors claimed they could not locate them for several hours after a bomb threat emptied the lockup for several hours, officials said today.
Texas Youth Commission officials said Mike Davis, superintendent of the West Texas State School in Pyote, and Assistant Superintendent Billy Hollis have been suspended without pay and recommended for termination for alleged gross negligence.
Dimitria Pope, the agency’s acting executive director, told a Senate hearing this morning that neither official could not be contacted for several hours after the pre-dawn bomb threat on Thursday.
“The staff tried to contract the administrators, without success,” she said, saying the bomb threat was first logged at 12:30 a.m., even though it was first reported to Austin officials at 4:30 a.m. “I’m concerned about the time lag.”
No bomb was found and the remote lockup was reoccupied after several hours, investigators said. No injuries were reported.
Both Davis and Hollis had been in their jobs for just a few months.
The prison gained notoriety earlier this year as the place where two administrators were accused of sexually abusing incarcerated teen-aged boys, while Austin officials looked the other way. Former Assistant Superintendent Ray Brookins and former Superintendent Paul Hernandez are facing criminal charges.
The abuse and alleged cover-up by some TYC officials spurred lawmakers last spring to enact sweeping reforms and led to a shake-up of top management at the agency.
The firings are the latest at the still-troubled agency. Last week, Pope fired seven employees involved in monitoring a privately run youth prison in Bronte after Austin officials discovered unsanitary and unsafe conditions.
Permalink | Comments (9) | Categories: Criminal justice
September 26, 2007
Criminal court lets DeLay decision stand
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals today refused to reconsider its decision affirming the dismissal of an indictment accusing former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and two associates of conspiring to violate state election laws.
In June, the court, by a 5-4 vote, agreed with lower courts which ruled that conspiracy did not apply to the election code in 2002. The Legislature later changed the law.
DeLay, who has retired from Congress, and two associates, Jim Ellis and John Colyandro, still face charges of conspiring to launder corporate money into campaign donations arising from the same events.
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September 25, 2007
Prison guard's horse put down
The horse ridden by a Huntsville prison guard killed Monday during an escape was euthanized overnight after veterinarians discovered it had been shot during an initial gun battle, officials confirmed today.
Michelle Lyons, chief spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, said an initial examination of the animal showed gravel wounds from where the escapees allegedly struck it with a stolen flatbed truck as they fled a garden field outside the Wynne Unit, at Huntsville’s northern edge.
But later, after the horse exhibited other symptoms of a more serious injury, another check showed a bullet hole under its girth strap, Lyons said. The horse had to be put down.
Investigators said a bullet recovered from the horse’s body is being held as evidence, and officials believe it was fired by the escaping convicts, Both were recaptured within three hours within three miles of the prison.
The horse was being ridden by Correctional Officer Susan Canfield, 59, who officials said was knocked off the horse and run down as the escapees fled the prison in a stolen flatbed truck.
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July 5, 2007
John Hill hospitalized
John Hill, the former chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court and attorney general, is in serious but stable condition in a Houston hospital, a family spokesman said Thursday.
Hill, 83, had a pacemaker installed early last month, Ross Margraves said, and left the hospital. He shortly returned to St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital to regain his strength.
“He’s hanging in there,” said Margraves, managing partner of the Houston office of the Winstead law firm, where Hill is a senior partner. “He’s full of tenacity and he’s tough as a boot.”
Hill served as attorney general from 1973 through 1978, the year he won the Democratic nomination for governor before losing to GOP nominee Bill Clements of Dallas. Hill won election as chief justice of the Texas Supreme Court in 1984. He was previously secretary of state.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Comings and goings, Criminal justice
May 27, 2007
TDCJ sunset, yes
There’s no coup d’etat involved, no hair-pulling and no nasty floor fight.
But at this late hour, there’s some nail-biting going on because the House still has not approved the conference committee report on Senate Bill 909 — the sunset legislation for Texas’ prison system.
The Senate approved the compromise bill earlier today.
But the House is now debating the controversial 10-Percent Rule, and it looks like it could go for a while. At one point, 39 speakers were signed up — and if each took their alloted time, it could run the clock on that bill and everything else.
Midnight is the deadline for passage in the House.
Stay tuned.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Criminal justice
May 26, 2007
TDCJ sunset a go
Final details of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s sunset bill — Senate Bill 909 — have just been agreed to by House and Senate conferees.
Still in are 10 House amendments: Taste tests for prison food vendors, preference for higher nutritional items, meetings between prison management and employees on various issues, revolving-door prohibition to keep prison employees and CJ board members from serving as parole commissioners, a zero-tolerance policy against sex abuse in prison, mandatory studies of recidivism, prison alternative programs and a prisoner exchange with Mexico, a mandate to arraign suspects within 11 days and a mandate to review adjudications in certain court cases.
Out are 19 House amendments: Everything concerning probation and parole, funding formulas, correctional health programs, the creation of a special prison chaplaincy division and a mandate that some defendants be placed on community supervision rather than sending them to prison.
Bottom line, say negotiators: Much of the stuff Gov. Rick Perry wanted in the bill is now out, and several things he wanted out are still in.
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May 25, 2007
New prisons, again
Late word: The long-discussed restrictions on building new Texas prisons have suddenly disappeared.
First-available copies of the proposed state budget are missing a provision that would have placed constraints on prison officials before they could build new units. Such things as the effectiveness of diversion programs, paroles rates and other factors, plus review and approval by the Legislative Budget Board, would have to have been considered.
No more.
A disappointed Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire, who had championed the changes as a way to support cheaper and more effective drug-treatment and rehabilitation programs, reported just a few ago: “All the qualifiers have been stripped out of the budget.”
“Now, all that will have to happpen is to get (Legislative Budget Board) approval,” he said.
And that much-ballyhooed, new Legislative Criminal Justice Oversight Board that was supposed to help ride closer herd on the adult prison system and the scandal-racked Texas Youth Commission?
It’s funding has been cut to zero.
Legislation creating the board is in a Senate-House conference committee. Stay tuned to see whether it gets cuts, as well.
Prison officials have been arguing against it. Prosecutors have been arguing against any new hurdles to build new prisons. Senate and House criminal justice leaders had been pushing for both.
Somewhere, in a backroom deal in recent days, they disappeared without explanation.
Permalink | | Categories: Criminal justice
TYC bill heading to governor
The House today accepted the final version of Senate Bill 103, the sweeping reform package for the scandal-racked Texas Youth Commission.
The Senate had already agreed to the latest version of the plan, which was hammered out by members of both chambers. The measure now goes to Gov. Rick Perry, who is expected to sign it into law.
The legislation will mandate independent investigations and new accountability measures, and restructure the troubled agency’s management and operations, to guard against any future scandal over sex abuse and official cover-ups.
Permalink | | Categories: Criminal justice
Prisons option still in
Late word is that the controversial option to build three new prisons remains in the state budget.
The mystery over whether it was in or out has been dominating criminal justice observers, even the legislative leaders in charge of the issue, for the past week.
Building the new prisons would come with strings, at least as of late Thursday. Prison population numbers would have to exceed targets, and they could be built only with the approval of legislative leaders and the Legislative Budget Board.
Other CJ budget details just confirmed:
The budget will include funding for around 9,000 new slots — both lockup and treatment beds — as part of more than $206 million in additional funding. That’s the largest boost since the early 1990s, when the state was building prisons fast and furious and took a later-aborted shot at opening more than a dozen drug-treatment units.
Among those new beds will be around 1,400 in Intermediate Sanction Facilities for parole violators, 1,900 in state jail treatment programs, 1,500 each in specialized drug-treatment programs such as the Substance Abuse Felony Punishment units and the In-Prison Therapeutic Programs, 800 in community-based residential treatment for parolees, 500 in special units for convicted drunk drivers and 300 in halfway houses.
In addition, the budget will include an additional $13 million for local probation programs and $10 million more for mental-health diversion programs.
Those details confirmed by House Corrections Committee Chairman Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, and Senate leaders.
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May 24, 2007
TYC reform, 1 vote to go
The Texas Senate today gave final approval to Senate Bill 103, the sweeping reform package for the scandal-racked Texas Youth Commission.
Unanimously, the Upper Chamber adopted an agreed final report on the measure by state Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen, that will mandate independent investigations and new accountability measures, and restructure the troubled agency’s management and operations, to guard against any future scandal over sex abuse and official cover-ups.
Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on the final vote: “Since the day my Senate colleagues and I first learned about the abuse of inmates in the Texas Youth Commission, our first priority was to ensure the safety of the young people in custody and to clean out the bad actors. Now we can begin to rebuild the TYC and restore public trust in the agency by implementing tough, new accountability measures that are included in this legislation.”
Final approval by the House is expected Friday, after which the bill goes to Gov. Rick Perry for his expected signature into law.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Criminal justice
May 9, 2007
Treating prisoners could save money, study says
Texas could save more than $493 million during the next four years if new drug-treatment and community programs for convicted felons are adopted, new estimates from a private think tank suggest.
The forecast by the Texas Public Policy Foundation bolsters the arguments of Senate and House criminal justice committees that have endorsed pending legislation to drastically expand the number of treatment, probation and community-based rehabilitation programs as an alternative to building new prisons.
Even so, the Senate version of the budget bill includes funding for three new prisons in the proposed budget — at a cost of more than $1 billion over the next decade, including $233.4 million to build and $750 million to operate.
The House-passed version has no funding for new prisons.
“Through key legislation and prioritizing alternatives to prison in the budget, the Legislature can avoid spending billions of taxpayer money on new prisons over the next decade,” said Marc Levin, director for the foundation’s Center for Effective Justice.
According to the new study, a bill to divert nonviolent, low-level drug offenders into treatment programs they would pay for could save the state between $49.8 million and $80.6 million over four years, based on past population trends. Similar programs have proven successful in other states.
That shift of prisoners from prisons to treatment programs, along with other proposed changes involving parolees and more intensive probation supervision, could save Texans $493.5 million between 2008 and 2012 because fewer prison beds would be needed, the study states.
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May 8, 2007
Truitt challenge KO'd
The Texas House late this afternooon turned back a challenge to final passage of the massive Texas Youth Commission bill.
By a vote of 92-43, members tabled an amendment by Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, that would have removed the 16 new inspectors general at the scandal-racked agency from a special retirement system that includes state troopers, correctional officer and game wardens, among others.
Truitt said the retirement fund is currently fiscally unsound, and that additional employees should not be added. She noted that juvenile correctional officers in Youth Commission lockups cannot join the special retirement fund, which pays more in benefits.
House Corrections Committee Chairman Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, sponsor of the reform bill, said most of the new IGs are part of the system as former inspector generals for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He indisted that adding 16 people would make no difference to the retirement fund.
After 30 minutes of debate, the House agreed. After killing Truitt’s amendment, they approved the reform bill 141-0.
Truitt voted yes.
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TYC reform snag
Final passage of the Texas Youth Commission reform bill hit a snag in the House this afternoon, not over details of the sweeping makeover.
But over what retirement plan the agency’s 16 new watchdogs will have.
As House members were casting their votes to approve the measure a final time, Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Keller, questioned whether the retirement plan for the new inspectors general is appropriate.
The same plan reportedly covers state troopers. It also covers inspectors general for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, after which the Youth Commission’s new investigative division is patterned.
House Corrections Committee Chairman Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, agreed to delay the final vote on CSSB 103 until 4 p.m., as supporters scrambled to keep Truitt’s questions from derailing the last vote on the bill.
Stay tuned.
Permalink | | Categories: Criminal justice
Craddick: Bill improves TYC
House Speaker Tom Craddick on passage late yesterday of CSSB 103, the Texas Youth Commission reform bill:
“The allegations of abuse that have taken place at various TYC facilities are appalling. Chairman Madden has spent a great deal of time crafting legislation that will help prevent future mistreatment of these children. I am pleased to see this legislation pass the House so we can immediately put into place changes that will improve the system.”
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May 1, 2007
Jessica's law awaits House-Senate negotiations
Legislators are poised to negotiate House-Senate differences on a proposal stepping up penalties against individuals who sexually assault children.
Rep. Debbie Riddle, R-Tomball, asked the House today not to concur in Senate amendments to the so-called Jessica’s law. Members agreed.
Riddle said she wants to work with senators on a conflict between the House and Senate over whether to impose the death penalty on offenders upon first offense or upon a second offense broken up by a long prison term.
She said she also wants to explore whether a Senate tweak would subject a teen-ager in a consenting relationship with a younger teen-ager to dire consequences.
“We’ve still got time,” Riddle said. “It makes more sense to correct these concerns now while we are able to do so rather than wait until next session… We need to polish it.”
Rep. Ellen Cohen, D-Houston, urged Riddle to keep in mind the expertise of professionals who work with children required to testify in such cases. Cohen said imposing the death penalty could jeopardize the safety of children; their attackers might kill them to prevent witness testimony.
Riddle said: “Our desire here is to craft the best piece of legislation that we possibly can in order to protect the children of Texas.That is our goal and that is the direction we are headed.”
The House negotiators will be Riddle and Reps. Dan Gattis, R-Georgetown; Aaron Pena, D-Edinburg; Jerry Madden, R-Richardson, and Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: Criminal justice, House, Senate
April 12, 2007
House spurns failure-to-identify measure
House members today spurned a proposal by Rep. Dianne White Delisi making it a crime if someone fails to identify themselves when a police officer stops them—a change from existing law making refusal to identify a crime in the event of an arrest.
Delisi noted that more than 20 other states have put in place a similar stipulation, which was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
A pile of members, including Houston Reps. Harold Dutton and Senfronia Thompson and Austin Reps. Dawnna Dukes and Valinda Bolton, suggested the proposal would encourage po