Texas legislature may cut all funds for professional prison chaplains

AUSTIN—In the wake of a significant budget deficit, Texas lawmakers are considering eliminating all professional prison chaplains, a move that could significantly affect the way volunteers from churches minister in that arena.

With Texas facing a $15 billion budget shortfall, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice faces $459 million in cuts. The proposed budget before the House eliminates all $4.6 million allocated for the state prison chaplaincy program.

If included in the final state budget, all professional prison chaplains would lose their jobs. Fifty-five of the 120 chaplains are endorsed by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

In addition to their counseling duties, chaplains are charged with managing prison religious programs that serve as the gateway for volunteers to serve in prison ministries. Chaplaincy also ensures prisoners have the religious freedom guaranteed to them in the First Amendment to the Constitution.

“I think TDCJ has one of the hardest budget-cutting scenarios in the state,” said Suzii Paynter, director of the Texas Baptist Christian Life Commission.

“There are a lot of things in TDCJ that can’t be cut. But I don’t see anything else in the TDCJ list of cuts that is protected by the First Amendment.

“Professional chaplaincy in the military and prisons is the way that protection is provided for constitutionally guaranteed religious liberty. 

“Professional chaplaincy is a priority; other things need to cut before we cut something that protects the right to worship and practice your faith while incarcerated.”

Research indicates professional chaplains lower recidivism rates by at least 50 percent, improve inmate behavior and serve as valuable resources to offenders and TDCJ staff members alike, said Emmett Solomon, president of Restorative Justice Ministries Network and former director of TDCJ chaplaincy.

Chaplains also serve as the gateway for more than 18,000 volunteers who minister in prisons each year, continually recruiting and training them to help change the lives of inmates, Solomon noted. About 400 new volunteers serve in prisons each month as a result of chaplains’ efforts.

When the prison chaplaincy program suffered cuts in 2003, the number of volun-teers significantly decreased, Solomon said. Eliminating prison chaplains entirely potentially could curtail the flow of volunteers that serve in prisons—the same volunteers proponents of the cut expect to handle chaplaincy services.

Paynter agreed, noting chaplains bring training, skills and experience that volunteers and other TDCJ staff members simply do not have.

“A volunteer can no more take the place of a professional when it comes to chaplaincy than a doctor, a lawyer or some other professional can be replaced by a volunteer,” she said.

“Without professional chaplains, there are no volun-teers.”

Beyond the fiscal incentives of the chaplaincy program, Michael Manness, chaplain at the Lewis Unit in Woodville, noted the benefit of having a trained counselor in prisons. They minister to crime victims, offenders and TDCJ staff members. They also are charged with delivering news to offenders about family deaths and illnesses.

“I have emptied a box of tissues every day for 18 years,” he said. “That is doubled on the other side of those walls” with family members.

For more information about how to engage legislators on this issue, call the Christian Life Commission at (512) 473-2288.