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South Texas sees jail boom

Web Posted: 08/06/2006 11:13 PM CDT

Zeke MacCormack
Express-News Staff Writer

South Texas is experiencing a jail construction boom, with nearly 13,000 beds recently added, under construction or proposed in communities facing increasing populations and crime, many on the front line of the illegal immigration crackdown.
The projects funded with both public and private money are raising concerns that new jails — some of which are constructed largely for economic reasons — come at the expense of treatment programs and sentencing alternatives that may pay society better long-term dividends.

The construction frenzy is playing out strictly on the county and federal levels, even though the state's prison system is more than 97 percent full.

Recent federal initiatives aimed at improving homeland security, such as one calling for illegal immigrants to be detained until they appear before a judge, have accelerated the pace of jail construction.

Under the "catch-and-release" policy, many immigrants are freed within hours of being caught if they promise to show up at a future court date. Few rarely appear.

"This government is committed to ending this unacceptable practice," President Bush said Thursday during a stop in Mission. "Step 1 is to add detention beds."

He cited a new detention center in Raymondville — one of at least two dozen in the works in South Texas — as proof of efforts to secure the border.

Bush's audience included some of the 6,000 National Guard members sent to southern border states under Operation Jump Start, an initiative that began June 15 that's already resulted in the apprehension of 2,500 undocumented immigrants.

He signed a bill earlier this summer to provide emergency funding for 4,000 jail beds nationwide, officials said, and his new proposed budget would fund another 3,700 beds.

While some see the boom in detention centers as evidence of the criminal justice system's failings, others call it a public safety investment that can pay financial dividends to taxpayers.

Willacy County Judge Simon Salinas cheered the 500-bed lockup cited by Bush, a "fast-track" project opened Tuesday by Management and Training Corp. that will grow next month to 2,000 beds.

"You talk about economic development, this is it," he said, noting the county's initial cut is $2.25 a day, per occupied bed.

Salinas predicted annual county income from the facility eventually would hit $10 million. The finished $64.8 million facility will feature 10 pod-like domes, built on concrete floors and made of synthetic fabric, each with 200 beds.

It is intended as a deportation center for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which since July has added 1,500 jail beds nationwide, for a total of 22,800.

Celeste McDonald of Management and Training Corp. said the company is proud its site was noted by Bush.

The company, which also runs the 540-bed Willacy County Regional Detention Facility, which opened in 2004, has hired 175 staffers for the new facility and plans to add another 200 more to run the finished facility.

U.S. marshals are holding about 11,000 detainees combined in the agency's southern and western districts, more than any other two connecting districts in the nation, agency spokesman Tim Hughes said.

"The federal government is really cracking down on immigration. That has raised our prisoner total," Hughes said.

The agency isn't having trouble placing prisoners because "we pay real well," he said, but added, "More bed space is always needed."

Texas and other border states are fertile ground for companies that specialize in building and running detention centers.

"That's one of the areas where we've been able to step up to the plate and meet the needs of our federal customers," said Steve Owen of Corrections Corporation of America, which runs 15 facilities in Texas and 50 more in 18 other states.

The companies also are attracting more business from counties to build and run jails.

With the budget for running his 98-bed jail topping $1 million a year, Burnet County Sheriff Joe Pollock is looking into hiring a private company to take over management of his facility and a planned 500-bed jail.

"That would save taxpayers from having to build a facility and operate it," said Pollock, president of the Sheriff's Association of Texas board.

Factors driving up county costs include inmates held at jails while awaiting transfer to state prison, he said, and people jailed for violating parole and nonpayment of child support.

"The state tells us every session they're going to help us and stop all these unfunded mandates. In the past there's been a bunch of empty promises," he said. "I'll tell you right now, with the border issues we're having and illegal immigration, it's just going to get worse."

By law, the state has 45 days after inmates are sentenced and the paperwork processed to move them to prisons from county jails.

The state's inmate count hit 152,277 this week, or 97.48 percent of capacity, but there are no plans for new state prisons.

To stay under its preferred 95 percent capacity threshold, last month the state increased from 1,400 to 1,800 the inmates it houses in beds leased from county jails.

But the squeeze also is being felt at the 265 county jails in Texas, which are 88 percent full with 82,850 inmates.

"There's jails being built and contemplated for construction all over the state because of the increase in the number of inmates," said Terry Julian, director of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards.

To reduce their inmate count, many counties are trying to speed up their court dockets and pursuing alternative sentencing options like the use of ankle bracelets.

Sentencing alternatives also are being discussed in the state Capitol, where there's little vocal support for a costly expansion like the $1 billion voters approved in 1993 to build several state prisons.

Calling prison construction a last resort, Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, instead supports additional treatment programs for criminals who have problems with drugs, alcohol and mental illness, and early curtailment of costly supervision for probationers who have proven trustworthy over time.

"I'm of a strong opinion that we have sufficient facilities if we use them in a smart fashion," said Whitmire, who chairs the Senate criminal justice committee. "One reason we can't get ahead of the curve on capacity is we're not dealing with people in a tough and smart way. We're just going the tough route."

He said he's troubled by some aspects of the construction boom of jails and detention centers.

"It often becomes an economic development issue, not a criminal justice issue," he said.

Similar comments come from Bib Libal of Grassroot Leadership, a national nonprofit that opposes "incarceration for profit."

Texas leads the nation in "speculative" prison building, he said, with more than 40 private lockups. Private companies pitching jail plans to county leaders emphasize the potential revenue stream, he said, and overlook the societal costs.

"They go out and build a prison and then go find the prisoners to fill it. It creates kind of a backwards criminal justice system," Libal said. "Good policy doesn't always flow from companies that have a paid interest in maintaining high incarceration rates."

But Owen, of Corrections Corporation of America, said the detention companies respond to a public demand for jails, not create the need.

"Nobody would argue that corrections professionals who are compensated for the service they provide, and the inherent risk that comes with those services, aren't deserving of that compensation," he said.

He also disputed Libal's claim that detention companies help craft legislation that encourages detention over other sentencing options.

"I'm not aware of anyone in this industry that does design and promote crime and sentencing policies, like mandatory minimum sentences," he said. "What gets overlooked by these groups is that oftentimes the people for whom they are lobbying for relief, our industry, by bringing more facilities on line, has eliminated overcrowding and improved conditions for offenders."


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zeke@express-news.net