“The true measure of our character is how we treat the poor, the disfavored, the accused, the incarcerated, and the condemned.” Bryan Stevenson
INTRODUCTION
Fair Changes is an informal alliance of current and former adults in custody and other advocates supportive of the American ideal of EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW. Our interest covers all aspects of the legal arena in Texas: laws, sentencing guidelines, police, courts, jails, prisons, afterward, and before. On April 22, 2022, a Fair Changes advisor addressed the Texas Board of Criminal Justice members at their quarterly meeting. He noted that current and formerly incarcerated individuals, and their associates, have much to add to making prisons accomplish their mission. The members were informed that an initial report would be distributed on July 4, 2022, in furtherance of that objective. This is that document and it is focused on just some prison conditions. More will follow.
“The mission of the TDCJ is to provide public safety, promote positive change in offender behavior, reintegrate offenders into the community, and assist victims of crime”
INDEPENDENT OVERSIGHT
In 2007 Texas lawmakers created the Criminal Justice Legislative Oversight Committee to analyze conditions and provide guidance about justice policy every two years to the legislature. That committee met once in 2009 and is currently on the books but inactive. In November 2021 investigative reporters with KXAN produced a report about that committee: https://www.kxan.com/investigations/state-committee-tasked-with-improving-texas-criminaljustice-system-sits-unfunded-unused-for-over-a-decade/ In March of this year, Texas House Speaker Phelan appointed three new members to this committee. As of now, it has not received any funding. https://www.kxan.com/investigations/texas-house-speaker-appoints-members-to-defunctcriminal-justice-committee-but-will-it-be-reactivated/ Prisons have long been the least transparent and understudied public agencies. They impact so many people that the need for more oversight is a public necessity. https://lbj.utexas.edu/essay-independent-oversight-essential-safe-and-healthyprison-system
***** A FAIR CHANGE WOULD BE TO: Permanently activate this committee as well as designate an Independent Oversight entity.
RESPECT FOR ADULTS IN CUSTODY
In Texas prisons, being “inmate friendly” is frowned upon. The mentality is basically “us versus them”. This creates the conditions for multiple forms of manipulation, deceit, oppression, and other negative behaviors. If this mindset worked well, there would be no need to change anything. However, the evidence shows that treating prisoners without respect does not promote positive behavior change. When staff and residents treat each other with dignity and respect, the environment changes and better outcomes result.
The prison system in Norway is considered the best in the world. That’s determined by how many individuals return after release. The hallmark of their system is dignity and respect for all. Administrators believe that a prison experience resembling real life, as much as possible, is the best preparation for reintegration.
“You stop acting like an inmate when you’re not treated like an inmate,” one prisoner says. “When you’re treated like a human being that made a mistake, that’s when change occurs.” “If the staff behave in a more humane, respectful, productive and constructive way, the people who are incarcerated will respond in kind.” https://www.norway.no/en/usa/norway-usa/san-francisco/amend—delegasjonsbesok-franorge/ The state of Pennsylvania has adopted some correctional practices from Norway in a pilot program at the State Correctional Institution in Chester. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTC1KI0STIY This project was suspended during the pandemic but has now resumed. https://www.publicnewsservice.org/2022-05-10/criminal-justice/pas-little-scandinavia-prisonunit-to-focus-on-rehabilitation/a79048-1
*****A FAIR CHANGE WOULD BE TO: promote change in the prison culture by requiring upgraded training for correctional staff with an emphasis on respect.
GOOD TIME/WORK TIME CREDIT
If you’re a prisoner and want to send a letter home, you must, just like in the free world, buy a stamp. If you want to purchase deodorant, you must buy it at the commissary. Yet, most prison residents are paid nothing for the work they are required to do. Thus, they are totally dependent on family and friends for the money needed to purchase anything from the commissary. Those without such financial support create “black market” ways to get what they want. Years ago, lawmakers decided that they would pay adults in custody with good time/ work time credits. Those credits can then be used to shorten the time in prison. Everyone can earn those credits, but if the individual was convicted of a violent or sex crime, the current policy prevents their use. It’s like getting a paycheck that cannot be cashed.
*****A FAIR CHANGE WOULD BE TO:
1. Enable every adult in custody to use the good time/work time they already earn. This would require a legislative remedy as opposed to an administrative one.
2. Create a system of earned credit that can be used to purchase commissary items. Implementation would require legislative approval.
3. Explore the up and downsides of paying adults in custody for work they do.
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT….OUT OF SIGHT, OUT OF MIND
A PRISON WITHIN A PRISON
Throughout the United States, except in Texas, there are 12 individuals who have been in solitary confinement (SC) for more than 20 years, except for death row. In Texas, there are 138 with 20+ years “living” in a 6’X9’ cage. There are also about 500 in SC for more than 10 years. In 2019 over 4,000 were in SC with an average stay of five years. Such numbers indicate resistance to thinking outside the box. Solitary is made more punitive with extremely limited educational/vocational/emotional/ spiritual programming. Plus, the food is not something free world people would eat and oversight or help from staff is inadequate because of understaffing and staff attitude. Other states have made dramatic reductions in solitary confinement while Texas prison administrators are mired in rigid patterns inherited from the past. Surely we can learn from others. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/15/podcasts/the-daily/supreme-court-solitary-confinement. html?showTranscript=1 https://www.guernicamag.com/secret-solitary/ https://txcivilrights.org/reports-and-publications/report-torture-by-another-name/ #:~:text=Yet%20Texas%20continues%20to%20hold,approximately%20five%20years%2 0in%20isolation.
*****A FAIR CHANGE WOULD BE TO:
1. Provide personal growth programming to all those in custody
2. Provide opportunities for earned release from solitary besides the GRAD program.
3. Permit contact visits with family and expanded use of phone contacts for disciplinary-free residents. Strong family connections are critical to success after release.
4. Evaluate all solitary residents per TDCJ policy to determine who should be released to the general population. Release needs to be based on behavior rather than a label.
5. Ensure that appropriate mental health help is available to all who need it
6. Upgrade staff training
ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO SOLITARY
A common correctional response to discipline-challenged, rule-breaking prisoners has been to lock them up more than they already are. Evidence-based research has shown that extended periods in solitary have serious negative consequences. Such outcomes are inconsistent with the TDCJ mission. The challenge for law enforcement-minded administrators has been how to think outside the cell. Several correctional departments have sought help from outside their ranks to search for new ideas. Here are two of them. Key components of North Dakota’s approach to ending solitary confinement https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Key-Components-of-North-Dakotas-Solitary Confinement-Reforms_fig1_355384157 Colorado limits most solitary placements to 15 days https://apnews.com/article/41eb8d353c924f46ac28c09b1bf9dd7e *
****A FAIR CHANGE WOULD BE TO: Investigate new approaches to the use of solitary in other correctional jurisdictions. C
CORRECTIONAL OFFICERS
COs have tremendously difficult jobs. They are on the front lines every day dealing directly with adults in custody. They must deal with a huge variety of individuals. Some have excessive sentences; some are wrongfully incarcerated. Many have issues with mental health and substance abuse. Others are just plain immature and overly impulsive. Effectively dealing with such a range of individuals requires training that current officers do not receive. The TDCJ has long had issues with staff retention. No wonder because many prisons are in remote locations, 75% of Texas prisons are not climate controlled, and prison culture emphasizes control over rehabilitation. Violence is an ever-present issue that is fostered by the culture. A shortage of over 6,000 frontline staff makes it close to impossible to meet the standards of care outlined in official policy. Officers have long been underpaid, undertrained, and overworked. The impact on morale is transferred to inmate/officer relationships and nourishes a negative atmosphere.
*****A FAIR CHANGE WOULD BE TO:
1. Significantly improve CO pay
2. Increase eligibility requirements
3. Encourage increased officer involvement in policy changes
4. Provide ongoing and enhanced training of staff/officers. Encourage greater focus on the Golden Rule.
CORRECTIONAL OFFICER WELLNESS
“Life behind bars is dangerous not only for incarcerated people but also for the people who work in these facilities. Yet few across the political spectrum talk about the hazardous working conditions for correctional staff. To remedy the unjust taboo, One Voice United assembled the first-ever Blue Ribbon Commission on correctional staff wellness. In this video, The Secret Is Out, officers, staff, and a distinguished group of Commissioners, including AV’s Vice President of Criminal Justice Julie James, come together to shed light on a crisis that has largely gone unnoticed outside the four walls.”
*****A FAIR CHANGE WOULD BE TO:
1: Ensure that officer training emphasizes rehabilitation.
2:Train officers to learn de-escalation techniques.
3: Avoid the use of stigmatizing language.
4: Model conflict resolution.
5: Encourage officers to always take time for teaching moments. This will make the environment more rehabilitative.
PRE-RELEASE PREPARATION IN PRIVATE UNITS
When individuals are approved for parole, around half are required to complete a pre-release program. These are identified as FI 5, FI 6, and DWI cases. These programs are only available in privately run facilities. Consequently, staff time and money must be spent on transporting individuals to those units for program completion, in addition to funding them. Efforts to determine the actual effectiveness of these facilities are ongoing. Comments from those who have completed these programs indicate that they could be made much more relevant.
*****A FAIR CHANGE WOULD BE TO: Explore the option of providing enhanced pre-release programming on every unit for every candidate prior to their review, instead of afterward as it now is. This would eliminate the current need for and cost of private units, as well as the cost of paying for incarceration after an adult in custody has been approved for parole.
ACCOMPLISHING THE MISSION
Security, custody, and control have long been the primary focus of prison administration. Important as these are to a well-run prison, they do nothing to address the needs of the residents. That means making personal growth programming available to those who need it wherever they are placed in the system. The TDCJ does offer a limited amount of programming that has helped save lives. But there is a far greater demand, and need, for educational/vocational/psychological/ spiritual programming than there is supply.
*****A FAIR CHANGE WOULD BE TO:
1. Place far greater emphasis on the kind of programming that research and common sense indicate is most effective.
TDCJ 2030 PLAN
There has long been agreement that Texas prisons need to do a much better job at preparing residents for release. An agreement, however, is not a plan. That is something that TDCJ Director Collier has in mind when he talks about the 2030 plan. His vision is that he wants the TDCJ to be the number one employer in Texas. He wants it to be more efficient and less staff reliant; he wants 95% of those released to have a job before release: and he wants less recidivism and lower re-arrest rates. These are all goes many would agree are important. To accomplish those objectives, he has tasked his division directors and their senior staff to submit recommendations for achieving those goals. As stakeholders in this “system”, we applaud any action that has the potential for changing lives and improving public safety. We believe that the recipients of the TDCJ services, those “serving time” and the staff who interact with them daily, have opinions worth considering. So, as well, do the families of each. The contention here is that the combined input of all stakeholders has the best chance of re-inventing prisons to most effectively accomplish the defined mission. *****A FAIR CHANGE WOULD BE TO:
1. Create Offices of Correctional Innovation within each unit staffed by prisoners selected by senior unit staff. Task them with proposing practical ideas to maximize the prison experience. 2. Create specific pathways for all staff to anonymously provide their recommendations for system improvement.
CONCLUSION
Change is hard. Especially if one is comfortable with established ways of doing things. But thoughtful change is the only solution to issues that have plagued prisons for decades. The benefits of human-centered change are more responsible people released from prison and their positive impact on their families and communities. That includes preventing future victims. Crime survivors are at the center of reforms as are possible new victims. To prevent future victims, changes must take place far beyond the prison walls. Proactive attention to budding dysfunctional behavior will shrink the number of victims, strangle the cradle to prison pipeline, and diminish the need for jails and prisons. TDCJ Strategic Plan 2021-2025 https://www.tdcj.texas.gov/documents/bfd/Agency_Strategic_Plan_FY2021-2025.pdf
P.S. The idea for Fair Changes was inspired in part by Aaron Flaherty. He is a Fair Changes advisor as well as a current Texas prisoner. He recently published a book about improving the prison experience and, thereby, public safety. Based on 25 years inside the walls of the TDCJ, he offers multiple recommendations for narrowing the perpetual gap between the mission of the TDCJ and everyday reality. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B1XHQM4M/ref=sr_1_3? crid=GDVQ78CF7ZQ7&keywords=aaron+flaherty&qid=1653167276&sprefix=aaron+flaherty%2Caps%2C 145&sr=8-3