NCJ Number
131812
Date Published
1991
Length
19 pages
Annotation
The history and current operations of the Texas prison system and the Texas Department of Corrections are discussed with emphasis on the issues that particularly concerned John Howard, Great Britain's early correctional reformer.
Abstract
These issues include staff quality, rules and regulations, inmate classification, control of different kinds of abuses, inmate employment, sanitation, and corrections decisionmaking. Early Texas history illustrates several factors that are characteristic of current Texas culture and prisons. These include conflict between a large number of cultures, rapid social change, and extensive violence. The State's prison population is large in relation to its general population, and correctional institutions are also large. The prison population has increased in recent years, as has prison construction. Texas courts are exercising increasing control over the correctional system, based largely on the decision in Estelle v. Ruiz. Current correctional staff believe that the decision has produced improvements in staffing levels and programs and irreversible losses in inmate-staff relations and the ability to conduct long-range planning for the prisons. The current situation demonstrates the need both for competent personnel and for appropriate regulation. Notes and 4 references