One Proposal to Get More Prison Beds Fast: Toss Out Health and Safety Requirements

At a recent Corrections Committee hearing, private prison lobbyists explained they could provide the state with hundreds of new prison beds if some standards for health and safety were eliminated. Committee chairman Jerry Madden has filed HB 1354, legislation that repeals part of the government code instituted after a landmark case establishing standards for prison conditions, the Ruiz case.

HB 1354 would eliminate standards that prevents the Texas Department of Criminal Justice from housing prisoners in tents, cellblock runs, hallways, laundry rooms, converted dayroom space, gymnasiums, or any other spaces not specifically built for housing.

Additionally, the bill would prevent the Texas Department of Criminal Justice from requiring in contracts with private prison companies more square footage per inmate than the least amount of square footage per inmate contained in any existing facility operated by the department. In other words, they want any new contract to be held to the lowest possible standard.

Prison beds built after 1991 are all at a minimum 40sq. feet, which is not the case with the old construction. Private prison beds must meet the standard of new prisons that have been designed to comply with Ruiz requirements, but this bill would allow them to comply to older standards that led to numerous problems and culminated in a lengthy, expensive lawsuit.

HB 1354 would set Texas back years in terms of standards achieved after the Ruiz lawsuit. The standards in place today were instituted to bring Texas in compliance with the Constitution. Federal and State laws require Texas to operate a constitutional prison system and assure the safety of prisoners and workers. If the only way that private prison companies can deliver new prisons is to ignore standards for health and safety, that's just another argument for why we can't afford any more private prisons.