Innovation is what made Texas what it is today. The willingness to dare, the challenges of taking on difficult tasks. Governor Abbott has talked about how Texas is a hub for innovation. That is true if what you’re looking are the opportunities for private business. When time is taken to compare innovation in public services, the contrast is stark.
For example: Texas lawmakers are annually spending $ 4 billion of our money on a correctional system that is not required to demonstrate a return on investment. Every two years, a new budget is submitted and approved with no demand for evidence of positive returns on that money. If it were a private company, it would likely go bankrupt because a product failure (recidivism) rate of +20% is not financially sustainable. That is where the profit is. With no defined expectation, there follows an attitude of “this is working just fine; let’s keep on doing what we’ve done before and make a few tweaks.”
Such an attitude is not conducive to innovation. Instead, what we see is repetition of the same old thing and resistance to change. That is unsurprising as, for example, in law enforcement, those on the front lines must constantly be concerned about staying alive.
But prisons have a focus that expands way beyond catching and processing criminals. The mission of the TDCJ is to help provide public safety by promoting positive behavior by those in prison. Accomplishing that well requires a philosophy and mindset largely absent in the current administration. On paper, the agency looks good. The mission goals are clear, but without any details. Since TDCJ leadership comes from within the agency, it naturally reflects its history and patterns. It is a culture that protects itself and projects a public image of effectively accomplishing the goals. Failures like the escape of Gonzalo Gonzales, who ended up killing 4 kids and a grandpa, are chalked off to front-line personnel not doing their jobs, according to the book. The high rates of drug use, the violence, the prevalence of suicide and murder, and untreated mental illness are just a few of the signs of a failed system. This is not to say that no good things are happening because there are. However, reports from the front line indicate that all those signs are being either ignored or dealt with using law enforcement techniques and tools.
The idealistic mission of prison can only be achieved if everyone behind the walls is treated with dignity and respect. That includes staff and residents. That is not happening system-wide right now. It cannot happen with only a law enforcement mindset. Far too few policies are in place now that effectively address individual needs and potential. Those needs are identified shortly after prison admission in what is called the Individual Treatment Plan (ITP). In theory, such an assessment, correctly done, provides a roadmap to the objective of behavior change. That map is quickly left behind as the resources and vision to implement it are not in place.
The need for a more nuanced and comprehensive strategy to achieve the idealistic mission of the prison experience is obvious to those on the front lines. Those who administer the “system” consistently paint a bright picture to the public and deliberately refuse to accept the help needed and offered by those closest to the problem. We all know that continuing to do the same thing and expecting different has a definition.