January 29, 2001
Criminal justice minister calls prison budget flawed
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___Gov. Rick Perry's proposed state budget that calls for $95 million in prison construction but neglects personnel and programs reveals a "return to a warehouse mentality," according to a former prison chaplain who coordinates Texas Baptist criminal justice ministries.
___"In this budget proposal, we see treatment programs in prisons severely taking a backseat to buildings and beds," said Jim Young, coordinator of restorative justice ministries with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___"The 'lock 'em up and throw away the key' approach just doesn't work. We can't build our way out of the prison problem."
___Instead, Young suggested, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice needs to explore alternative sentencing options, enhance opportunities for faith-based volunteers to become involved with inmates and parolees and encourage church-sponsored programs that give inmates a sense of hope.
___"With a limitation of security officers, there is a higher need for quality inmate programs that bring a message of hope and value to inmates who have been beaten down," he said.
___Easy parole revocation is filling the system with non-violent offenders who need to be in alternative programs, Young observed. And placing first-time offenders with career criminals just contributes to the problem.
___"We are creating an academy of crime by bringing together hardened criminals and technical offenders," he said. "In too many situations, prison has become a proving ground for young macho egos--a rite of passage to adulthood where someone earns his stripes as a man by doing time."
___Young called for greater acceptance of alternative programs for non-violent offenders, and he encouraged increased church participation in halfway houses and aftercare ministries to ex-offenders.
___Problems in the prison are aggravated by the state's difficulty in attracting and retaining quality correctional officers, Young added. The proposed $110 billion, two-year budget does not include any pay raises for state employees, including correctional officers and prison chaplains. Entry-level pay for a prison guard is $21,000, and the top salary is not much higher, he noted.
___"The adversarial relationship between guards and prisoners is heightened when you have frustrated, disgruntled correctional officers confronting frustrated and disgruntled offenders. And both are longing for some sign of hope," Young said.
___Christian volunteers can help to provide that hope, he noted. When faith-based volunteers come into the prisons to mentor offenders, lead Bible studies and participate in chapel services, inmate morale improves and disciplinary problems decrease, Young noted, citing his own experience in nine years as a TDCJ chaplain.
___There are problems, however. One is that policies place unreasonable limits on interaction between volunteers and offenders, as well as between correctional officers and chaplains. For instance, a volunteer who mentors and disciples an inmate while he is incarcerated cannot maintain contact with that person if he is paroled. And chaplains are limited to casual contact with guards, restricting their ability to minister to correctional officers with whom they work day by day.
___Another problem is that some wardens have eliminated volunteer programs because they fear having visitors inside a facility is too great a security risk, he added. And when prisons begin cutting budgets, chaplaincy programs are endangered.
___"The warden drops volunteer programs because of security concerns, since he can't hire enough correctional officers. And because the inmates have no programs to look forward to, security deteriorates further. It's a Catch-22 situation," Young said.
___"We need to enable the program and services division of the TDCJ to do a more effective job through the use of community volunteers who are not limited by TDCJ bureaucracy and arbitrary decisions of wardens as to what they do and do not want in 'their' prison."
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