House Corrections Committee Takes a Look at TYC Problems

The recent events surrounding the closure of the Coke County Juvenile Justice Facility is only one of many problems to come for TYC. As a seasoned veteran of juvenile corrections, both public and private sector I have seen both good and bad aspects of private and public juvenile corrections. Private Corrections: MONEY The issue at hand for many private corrections companies is trying to squeeze as much profit as possible from an already low overhead business venture. The cost of housing and properly caring for youthful offenders is very high. The challenging part of private corrections is taking an established per diem rate, covering operational costs and then taking a profit. The only way to increase profit is to cut services to offenders. Who loses? Yeah, you guessed correction, the youth "serviced". FACILITY LOCATION Much like The Texas Department of Criminal Justice, many private companies seek tax breaks and incentives from smaller towns to build correctional facilities. Companies like The GEO group and MTC build in places like Coke County and Garza County. These small towns are unable to support the staffing demands of these facilities; therefore maintaining qualified staff is next to impossible. Issues of neglect and abuse run rampant due poorly qualified staff dealing with "seasoned" offenders from large cities like Dallas, San Antonio and Houston. PUBLIC The Texas Youth Commission is not immune from the same issues that plague the private facilities. FACILITY LOCATIONS The Texas Youth Commission builds correctional facilities in small communities such as Pyote and Brownwood. The Ron Jackson facility in Brownwood, Texas has had it's share of problems and the root of their problems is not management or policy. The problem is very simple, Brownwood and other small towns like it are not able to support the enormous staffing needs of a large correctional facility. The turnover rate for most correctional facilities hovers around 50%. The Ron Jackson facility is no exception. Handling offenders from San Antonio, Houston and DFW is no easy task, especially for small town people not "hip to the game". PROGRAMMING The Texas Youth Commission prides itself on the program of "Resocialization". The idea is to utilze peer interactions to help correct poor behavior and model positive behavior. The Resocialization concept utilizes group meetings to help provide offenders reasons for their misbehavior. In my educated and professional experience opinion, the entire Resocialization concept is a ripoff from the antiquated ideas of "Positive Peer Culture" or PPC. The question I often asked was what positive peer interaction can be garnished from a large group of youthful offenders? How can troubled youth help each other? In my estimation it is the same concept of the blind trying to lead the blind. MANAGEMENT TYC Officials listen up...... Not one good administrator in his right mind would accept a position with TYC right now, myself included. As much as things change, the more they remain the same. TYC has turned to hiring ex-TDCJ Wardens in high level positions. These TDCJ exes have no juvenile experience and most are "double-dipping" the state for retirement pay and their current TYC pay and have no "fire" to facilitate positive change. They simply harp on policy and procedure with little regard to what might actually help fix TYC. These men and women are not remotely qualified to run TYC facilities. So, for the sake of TYC, seek out qualified administrators! The rank and file are filled with dedicated professionals that understand first hand the problems facing TYC. Look hard for these dedicated people and stay the heck away from all the TDCJ rejects!