Scott Henson, Policy Director at Just Liberty, blogs as GRITS FOR BREAKFAST. In a recent blog Henson wrote:
“The Texas House Corrections Committee received several ‘Interim Charges’ recently, including one directing them to study:
current Texas criminal justice system policies and practices regarding 17- to 25-year-olds, specific to probation, parole, state jail confinement, and discharge from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or county jail. Review any gaps in services that may be causing this population to recidivate. Make recommendations to improve the state’s response to the needs of this population in order to lower revocation, re-arrest, and reincarceration rates.”
This is another one of those costly studies that are a waste of taxpayer money.
Recidivism, whether among ‘kids’ or adults, has always been a problem and will continue to be a problem because there is a culture of criminality in places where they grew up.
The low recidivism rate Texas parole authorities tout cannot be believed. Nationwide the recidivism rate is between 50 and 60 percent. Someone here is manipulating parole outcomes.
Texas prisons are supposed to “promote positive change in offender behavior, to reintegrate offenders into society.” So is every other prison in this country.
There is no way any prison can accomplish that. Prisons are not open college campuses. Promote positive change in behavior … just how can you do that in a prison? And how do you reintegrate inmates into society when for years they’ve been told when to shit, shower and shave, when to shut up, get up, go here and there, do this and that, and all their basic needs are provided for them.
If we’re really honest about it, the purpose of prisons is to punish offenders and keep them locked up to protect the public.
When I was on the faculty of Sam Houston State University, I volunteered to conduct group therapy sessions for trouble-making inmates at the Ferguson Unit. I also conducted pre-parole classes at Ferguson. But there was little I could really do to prepare them for what they would experience in the free society after having been in the strictly controlled prison society.
The primary purpose of probation and parole is to protect the public. Having been a parole officer, I have studied Texas probation and parole supervision, and I can say without hesitation that probation and parole in Texas are a joke. Probation and parole officers cannot successfully operate on a Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm schedule. Office visits and scheduled home visits allow the offender to cover up any illegal activities he or she may be engaged in.
Of course good probation and parole supervision will not reduce recidivism but surprise nighttime and weekend home visits can detect criminal activities by offenders. And that serves the interest of the public.
To be sure, playing cops and robbers is not the only role of POs. They are supposed to help find the offender employment and provide counseling when he or she admit to having problems.
Actually, offenders who stay out of trouble have self-rehabilitated with the help of family and a good job. A good job, and I don’t mean working in a car wash, is the most significant factor for a probationer or parolee to remain crime free. That and avoiding his former criminal buddies.
The legislature can conduct its study, but in the end recidivism will continue to go its merry way.
The chart at the top of this article does not contradict my statement that the low recidivism rate Texas parole authorities tout cannot be believed. The chart applies to drug addicts, a group that can be expected to have higher recidivism rates.
I found the Board of Pardons and Parole statistical report for FY 2014. According to the report, only 10.67 percent of all parolees were returned to prison for either new convictions or technical parole revocations. Only 10.67 percent? Anyone who believes that must still believe in the tooth fairy.
You are entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts. Look, it’s a matter of public record whether soemone on parole returns to prison on either a new conviction or a technical revocation. If you think the number they provide is a farce, you’re welcome to show where they added the numbers wrong.
Jeff, when almost every other state reports a recidivism rate of 50-60 percent, the only way the Texas rate of 10.67 percent can be believed is if 80 percent of the parolees died while on parole.
Having been in the system at a very young age I can tell you with absolute certainty, the problem lies within a system that gradually introduces one to it, by the time the hammer is dropped you are already accustomed to the pain. Out of the three of us that committed our heinous crime (peddling dope) the court liaison informed us that one of us would, in the end, go to prison, she was right and wrong. A few years later one of us was in the morgue, one went to prison for an extended period of time and but for the grace of God I made it out (not that I deserved it) to live a full and productive life. I believe as many others do, the hammer should come down right out of the box making darn sure that you understand the gravity of what you have done via serious consequences coupled with mentor programs, etc., by the time most make it to a probation or parole they are already hardened and institutionalized. I believe that the system is designed to keep people in much like the welfare system.
I believe Howie, those figures are mistaken. An investigation is needed to find out how the figures were arrived at when they would seem fairly simple to determine. I find GOP appointees clueless when it comes to math and proper statistics.
It’s called manipulation of statistics. The police do it all the time to make themselves look good and to make their cities look safer than they really are. NYPD has reported forcible rapes as illegal entry … that’s no joke. And Houston PD has listed several homicides as suicides even though the victims were shot multiple times. Los Angeles PD has just been exposed by a LAPD captain of statistics manipulation. You can bet these statistic shenanigans go on in many other agencies, including the Texas parole system.
This is timely for me. I heard about a Prison Entrepreneurship Program and decided to check it out. I will be going to the Cleveland Correctional Institute for the first time next week.
I agree with Howie’s take on the recidivism rate. Everything I have read shows a much higher rate throughout the country. I doubt Texas is doing significantly better than the rest of the country.
I disagree slightly with Howie’s take on punishment. The overall goal should be what is best for society. Any offender who remains a danger to society, needs to remain locked up. For those who are not a danger to society, we must figure out what reduces recidivism rates the most, and provide the support necessary to assist these individuals in not returning to prison. I don’t see this as a feel good program for the prisoners, but rather an enormous benefit for society to have an additional productive member rather than paying for another stint in prison.
I would also add that we need to figure out how to reduce the number of people going to prison in the first place. Although this is an incredibly complex issue, I suggest the “Jobs” Howie speaks about would be the best place to start. As Voltaire stated, “work banishes the three great evils, boredom, vice and poverty”.