Final Report with Legislative Action - Sunset Advisory Commission

198 Pages·2013·2.32 MB·English

S A
unSet dviSory
C
ommiSSion
F r
inAl eport
l A
with egiSlAtive Ction
Texas Department of
Criminal Justice
Correctional Managed
Health Care Committee
Windham School District
Board of Pardons
and Paroles
J 2013
uly
Sunset Advisory Commission
Representative Dennis Bonnen
Chair
Senator Robert Nichols
Vice Chair
Representative Rafael Anchia Senator Brian Birdwell
Representative Byron Cook Senator Joan Huffman
Representative Harold V. Dutton, Jr. Senator Dan Patrick
Representative Four Price Senator John Whitmire
Casandra Ortiz Jan Newton
Ken Levine
Director
Cover photo: The Texas Capitol is a marvel of craftsmanship down to the smallest details. The beautifully carved
wood door frames are emphasized with elaborate, custom-designed bronze hinges and hardware produced especially
for the building by Sargent and Co. of New Haven, Connecticut, in the late 1880s. The eight inch by eight inch hinges
are inscribed with the words “Texas Capitol”, decorated with incised designs of geometric and stylized floral motifs, and
weigh over seven pounds each.
T D C J
exas eparTmenT of riminal usTiCe
C m H
orreCTional anageD ealTH
C C
are ommiTTee
W s D
inDHam CHool isTriCT
B p p
oarD of arDons anD aroles
s f r l a
unseT inal eporT WiTH egislaTive CTion
J 2013
uly
This document is intended to compile all recommendations and action taken by the Sunset Advisory
Commission for an agency under Sunset review. The following explains how the document is expanded
and reissued to include responses from agency staff and the public.
l
Sunset Staff Report, May 2012 – Sunset staff develops a separate report on each individual
agency, or on a group of related agencies. Each report contains both statutory and management
recommendations developed after the staff’s extensive evaluation of the agency.
l
Sunset Staff Report with Hearing Material, May 2012 – Adds responses from agency staff and the
public to Sunset staff recommendations, as well as new issues raised for consideration by the Sunset
Commission at its public hearing.
l
Sunset Staff Report with Decision Material, August 2012 – Adds additional responses, testimony, or
new issues raised during and after the public hearing for consideration by the Sunset Commission
at its decision meeting.
l
Sunset Staff Report with Commission Decisions, September 2012 – Adds the decisions of the Sunset
Commission on staff recommendations and new issues. Statutory changes adopted by the
Commission are presented to the Legislature in the agency’s Sunset bill.
l
Sunset Final Report with Legislative Action, July 2013 – Adds action taken by the Legislature on
Sunset Commission recommendations and new provisions added by the Legislature to the agency’s
Sunset bill.
T C
aBle of onTenTs
p
age
s
ummary
.................................................................................................................................. 1
Staff Recommendations (page 2)
Summary of Final Results (page 8a)
a g
genCies aT a lanCe
T D C J
exas eparTmenT of riminal usTiCe
.................................................................................................................................. 9
C m H C C
orreCTional anageD ealTH are ommiTTee
.................................................................................................................................. 15
W s D
inDHam CHool isTriCT
.................................................................................................................................. 17
B p p
oarD of arDons anD aroles
.................................................................................................................................. 21
i /r
ssues eCommenDaTions
1 Texas Has a Continuing Need for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice .......... 25
Commission Decision (page 32a)
Final Results (page 32a)
2 Reentry Strategies Lack Focus and Coordination, Limiting Opportunities
for Texas to Further Reduce Recidivism and System Costs ...................................... 33
Commission Decision (page 44f)
Final Results (page 44f)
p
age
3 Community Supervision Funding Formulas and Grant Processes Need
Strengthening to Keep Pace With a Changing Adult Probation
System ...................................................................................................................... 45
Commission Decision (page 50b)
Final Results (page 50b)
4 Statute Does Not Align With Recent Changes in the State’s Approach
to Providing Offender Health Care .......................................................................... 51
Commission Decision (page 58c)
Final Results (page 58c)
5 Without a Regular Review of the Windham School District and Its
Programs, the Legislature Cannot Best Direct Resources to Programs
That Work ................................................................................................................. 59
Commission Decision (page 64b)
Final Results (page 64b)
6 The Parole Board’s Ability to Make Effective Parole Release Decisions
Is Impeded by Its Limited Use of Available Resources and Inconsistent
Access to Information ............................................................................................... 65
Commission Decision (page 74f)
Final Results (page 74f)
7 Texas Correctional Industries Cannot Sell to Privately Run Correctional
Facilities, Resulting in a Missed Opportunity to Reduce TDCJ’s General
Revenue Funding ...................................................................................................... 75
Commission Decision (page 76a)
Final Results (page 76a)
8 Texas Criminal Justice Agencies’ Statutes Do Not Reflect Standard
Elements of Sunset Reviews ..................................................................................... 77
Commission Decision (page 80b)
Final Results (page 80b)
p
age
n i
eW ssues
................................................................................................................................. 81
Commission Decision (page 108)
Final Results (page 108)
p a l
rovisions DDeD By THe egislaTure
.................................................................................................................................. 109
a
ppenDiCes
Appendix A — TDCJ Facilities Map ....................................................................... 111
Appendix B — TDCJ Facilities ............................................................................... 115
Appendix C — TDCJ Rehabilitation Programs ...................................................... 117
Appendix D — History of Texas Parole Guidelines ................................................. 121
Appendix E — Texas Criminal Justice Agencies Reporting Requirements ............. 123
Appendix F — Texas Department of Criminal Justice Equal Employment
Opportunity Statistics ..................................................................... 129
Appendix G — Windham School District Equal Employment
Opportunity Statistics ..................................................................... 133
Appendix H — Board of Pardons and Paroles Equal Employment
Opportunity Statistics ..................................................................... 137
Appendix I — Texas Department of Criminal Justice Historically
Underutilized Businesses Statistics.................................................. 141
Appendix J — Windham School District Historically Underutilized
Businesses Statistics ......................................................................... 145
Appendix K — Staff Review Activities .................................................................... 1479
s
ummary
Sunset Advisory Commission July 2013
s
ummary
When the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), Correctional
Managed Health Care Committee (Committee), and Board of Pardons and
Paroles (Parole Board) were last under Sunset review in 2007, Texas’ adult
criminal justice system had reached a pivotal point. The system was at capacity
and the Legislature had to decide whether to invest in building new prisons
or in alternatives to incarceration. The Legislature chose the latter, investing
in diversion strategies including treatment programming, probation, and
parole to help control incarceration capacity. These significant investments
and policy changes to support these diversion strategies ultimately triggered
a shorter Sunset review date for these agencies.
As a result, this Sunset review began with
With legislative reforms resulting in
the basic question — where are the agencies
a healthier criminal justice system
and the system now, six years later? The
Legislature’s reforms have clearly improved overall, this Sunset review focused on
the system. Since 2007, the number of giving the agencies solid foundations
offenders entering prison as a result of having to meet upcoming challenges.
their probation or parole status revoked has
decreased, while the Parole Board’s overall
release rates have increased. State jail and prison reincarceration rates have
declined and as a result, Texas has not had to build more prisons and was able
to close the Central Unit in 2011. These successes indicate that overall, the
Texas criminal justice system is working well.
Against this backdrop, the review assessed the agencies’ functions, structures,
and relationship to one another, as they all play an integral role in the system.
Many still have concerns about how TDCJ’s consolidated structure, in place
since 1989, affects the independence of the community and parole supervision
functions. However, when considering the benefits of the current system’s
structure, Sunset staff’s analysis did not find significant problems, certainly
none large enough to recommend dismantling the functions, nor were there
significant cost savings related to an alternative structure. In considering
alternative structures, the review examined whether all parole functions —
determining timing and conditions of release (Parole Board) and overseeing
paroled offenders in the community (TDCJ Parole Division) — should be
housed together within a single agency. The review found that the benefits of
separation such as preserving the integrity and independence of release and
revocation decisions outweighed issues that essentially came down to poor
communication and coordination between the two agencies. The issues can,
and should, be resolved by the agencies’ management.
Another difference between this Sunset review and the last is that the
Legislature placed the Windham School District (Windham) — Texas’
correctional education provider — under a special purpose Sunset review
to examine its structure, management, and operations. Sunset staff found
Texas Criminal Justice Agencies Sunset Final Report with Legislative Action 1
Summary
July 2013 Sunset Advisory Commission
that while numerous alternatives to Windham’s structure and delivery methods exist, advantages to
these alternatives did not clearly outweigh the benefits of the current system and, in particular, the
potential costs of changing Windham’s current school district structure. In contrast, prompted by the
Legislature’s recent decision to considerably reduce the Committee’s responsibilities by transferring
offender healthcare contracting to TDCJ, Sunset staff determined continuing the Committee as a
separate, independent agency is no longer necessary to provide medical expertise to TDCJ and the
State.
Overall, Sunset staff found problems as discussed in the material below, but did not find significant
enough evidence to justify major structural changes to the system, particularly when recognizing any
single structural change could easily impact the system’s current stability, potentially causing renewed
capacity problems. However, coordination challenges continue to exist among the system’s agencies,
several of which are addressed in this report. Other issues, which arise mostly from the lack of effective
communication, did not justify the need for recommendations typically made in Sunset reviews. The
agencies simply need to focus on doing a better job of communicating and resolving these coordination
concerns.
Within this context, and with many of the Legislature’s investments over the last several years beginning
to bear fruit, the issues and recommendations in this report focus on giving the agencies clear direction,
as well as a solid foundation and statutory framework needed to address future priorities and challenges.
The following material summarizes Sunset staff’s recommendations on all four agencies.
Issues and Recommendations
Issue 1
Texas Has a Continuing Need for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Texas has a need to protect the public’s safety, and TDCJ provides the support and structure to
supervise offenders on probation in the community, securely confine more serious offenders, and
directly supervise offenders on parole. With about 627,200 offenders in Texas and TDCJ’s current
prison and state jail capacity at 162,809 beds, community supervision and parole offer less expensive
alternatives to traditional incarceration. These strategies are needed to help TDCJ manage its prison
capacity efficiently while protecting public safety, particularly as Texas’ offender population is projected
to continue growing in the next five years. The review also found that TDCJ is the most appropriate
agency to oversee this system.
Of the four agencies reviewed in this report, only TDCJ has an abolishment date under the Sunset Act,
necessitating a recommendation to continue the agency. As a constitutionally established agency, the
Parole Board is not subject to abolishment, but will continue to come under Sunset review at the same
time as TDCJ. Neither the Committee nor Windham has an abolishment date, but as discussed in
Issues 4 and 5, Sunset staff recommends continuing to review both of these entities along with TDCJ
in future reviews.
Key Recommendation
l
Continue the Board and Department of Criminal Justice for 12 years.
2 Texas Criminal Justice Agencies Sunset Final Report with Legislative Action
Summary