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Might 2011 budget crunch bring TX prison closures?

This morning I stopped in for a panel discussion sponsored by the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative Austin-based think tank, on the topic of "Corrections Solutions for a Tight Budget" at their big annual conference, and was pleased to hear state leaders tentatively embrace a suggestion I've been promoting here on Grits: Closing some of Texas' most expensive or difficult-to-staff prison units to make prisons safer and cheaper.Among the speakers, Dr. Tony Fabelo was most blunt on this question, suggesting openly that Texas "try to save money by closing down prisons," citing examples in Michigan, Connecticut and elsewhere to say it could be done safely. The biggest challenge in 2011, he said: "If we're not careful the Legislature could screw this up again" by slashing probation, parole and treatment programming to prop up prison spending, which is what happened in 2003...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on January 14, 2010 (boomark / email).