Tag Archives: jail overcrowding

Perry and pot

Posted on January 28, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

Haul out your blind squirrels and acorns cliches. Texas Gov. Rick Perry said Thursday that he favors decriminalizing marijuana use and lessening punishment for minor offenders as the nation moves toward a more moderate approach to pot use and two … Continue reading →

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On pot and prosecutions

Posted on January 22, 2014 by Charles Kuffner

I’m sure you’ve heard about President Obama’s remarks that marijuana isn’t really more harmful than alcohol. There’s plenty of evidence to back that assertion, but Harris County DA Devon Anderson strongly disagreed with him anyway. President Barack Obama’s recently published … Continue reading →

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Probation and drug testing update

Posted on December 3, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Sounds like good news. Late last summer, the director of the Harris County Community Supervision and Corrections Department resigned, and the Harris County District Attorney’s office said it would stop using the agency’s drug tests as evidence after revelations that … Continue reading →

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Moving the focus back to un-crowding the jails

Posted on October 18, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

This is a positive development. Newly appointed Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson on Wednesday pledged to curb the increasing number of low-level felons being sentenced to serve misdemeanor time in the county jail rather than going to prison, known … Continue reading →

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Whitmire weighs in on Harris jail population

Posted on October 5, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

State Sen. John Whitmire has pushed back on some of the explanations given for the recent uptick in the Harris County jail population, beginning with the claim that it’s due to state jails taking longer than usual to pick up … Continue reading →

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More on Kim Ogg

Posted on October 4, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s the full Chron story about Kim Ogg’s declaration that she will run for Harris County DA as a Democrat in 2014. “I have the varied experience in policy, in prevention and in prosecution that I think gives me a … Continue reading →

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We have to worry about jail overcrowding again

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Not good. After a nearly two-year hiatus, the Harris County jail population is nearing capacity, prompting officials to again consider whether to ship some inmates to out-of-state lockups. The latest jail population report shows the total number of detainees dropped … Continue reading →

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Hall’s five point crimefighting plan

Posted on September 10, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

From the inbox: Houstonians do not feel safe in their homes and their communities. Houston’s crime numbers remain dangerously high and criminals are victimizing us daily. The only thing we hear from the Mayor’s office on this issue is silence. … Continue reading →

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One more ballot item

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

In addition to the Astrodome and (maybe) Early To Rise referenda, Harris County voters will also get to decide on a jail bond referendum. From the preview story on Tuesday: Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday also is expected to … Continue reading →

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If we need more courts, we should ask for more courts

Posted on July 1, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

I’m not sure why there hasn’t been more of a push to deal with this. As Harris County’s population continues to swell, more people means more crimes. And that results in more work for the county’s 22 felony courts. But … Continue reading →

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No increase in jail population as yet

Posted on March 20, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Good to hear. When Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson toppled incumbent Pat Lykos in last year’s Republican primary, some county budget hawks got fidgety. The campaign’s central issue, after all, was Anderson’s opposition to a Lykos policy that treated … Continue reading →

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Sobering center opens up

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Mayor Annise Parker joined council members on Thursday to unveil the innovative Houston Recovery Center, a place where people who are intoxicated can sober up instead of being arrested. Officials say there’s only one other similar facility in Texas. … Continue reading →

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I got those empty prison cell blues

Posted on March 9, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

There’s a lot of excess prison capacity around the state, which is a big problem for a lot of communities that once thought building prisons, to be operated by private entities, would be a boon for them. Just over a … Continue reading →

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Trace cases to be prosecuted as felonies again

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Charles Kuffner

So says our new DA. Newly elected Harris County District Attorney Mike Anderson said Thursday he will prosecute as felonies drug cases that involve trace amounts of crack cocaine, reversing his predecessor’s stand on the so-called “trace cases.” “If there … Continue reading →

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Once again on bail and jail overcrowding

Posted on September 18, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Grits returns to a familiar topic. Harris County has successfully reduced its jail population in the last couple of years to the point where they no longer must ship inmates to jails in Louisiana and other Texas counties due to … Continue reading →

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On locking up prostitutes

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

It doesn’t make much sense. Busted 32 times in 17 years for prostitution in Austin and other places, Beatryce Hall’s rap sheet reads like a frequent-flier ticket for Texas prisons: 11 times in 11 years. Many of those trips were … Continue reading →

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Harris County probation director resigns

Posted on September 1, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Some fairly big news that has nothing to do with hurricanes, the GOP convention, or the Voting Rights Act. Paul Becker, the director of Harris County’s probation department, resigned Wednesday in the wake of allegations the department mismanaged thousands of … Continue reading →

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Privatizing psych hospitals makes as much sense as privatizing prisons

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Especially when it’s the same outfit doing the privatizing in each case. Sixteen months after the Montgomery County Mental Health Treatment Facility opened in Conroe, the state’s first publicly funded, privately run psychiatric hospital is facing at least $53,000 in … Continue reading →

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Harris County indigent defense costs trending down

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Via Grits, here’s an email from the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition that shows some good news for Harris County. New numbers from the Commission show that while total indigent defense expenses in Harris County increased by $4.7 million between 2007 … Continue reading →

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Hard times in the prison building business

Posted on April 9, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Bad news for the mostly small counties that are left holding the bag on their bond debt, good news for the rest of us. The dusty West Texas ranch town of Anson, once known for its no-dancing law made famous … Continue reading →

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The Sheriff’s office is hiring

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia says by balancing his department’s $392 million budget, he’ll be able to transfer 100 deputies from jail duties to crime-fighting jobs in the next year while hiring hundreds of new civilian jailers. During a … Continue reading →

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Better budget news

Posted on March 12, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

For the city. The city of Houston may have $21 million more in income in the coming fiscal year than it had planned on before Wednesday. That’s when it got the news that the Harris County Appraisal District projects that … Continue reading →

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Interview with Sheriff Adrian Garcia

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia was elected in 2008 with the highest vote total of any candidate on the ballot. He inherited an office that was tainted by the scandals of his long-term predecessor, a jail system that was overcrowded, … Continue reading →

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Inmate outsourcing on the way out

Posted on January 8, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This is unequivocally good news. Dropping inmate numbers at the Harris County Jail will let the county end its nearly 5-year-old practice of shipping overflow inmates to Louisiana and other Texas counties within days, Sheriff Adrian Garcia said this week. … Continue reading →

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More on the crime lab and the city jail

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

Here we have some more information about Mayor Parker’s plans for the crime lab, though it’s still not really clear where this is going. Parker wants to make the lab independent of HPD and the city, overseen instead by a … Continue reading →

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Lykos v Anderson

Posted on January 3, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

I obviously don’t have a dog in the Republican District Attorney primary fight, but I like a good high-profile political battle as much as the next junkie, so stories about it are interesting to me. [DA Pat] Lykos argues she … Continue reading →

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Reducing prison population is hard

Posted on December 14, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

And we’re taking a step backwards. Last summer, when tough-on-crime Texas closed its first prison ever, legislative leaders were jubilant over downsizing one of the nation’s largest corrections systems by more than 1,000 beds. It was a first big step, … Continue reading →

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More on Lykos versus the cops

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s another Chron story about the recent dust-up between Harris County DA Pat Lykos and six Harris County police groups that don’t like her policy that trace amounts of crack will not be prosecuted as felonies. Two points that are … Continue reading →

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Lykos versus the cops

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Various law enforcement unions are not happy with Harris County DA Pat Lykos. Leaders of six Harris County police organizations Tuesday announced a vote of no confidence in District Attorney Pat Lykos, saying she has “shirked her duty” and has … Continue reading →

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Disciplining deputies

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron has a long story about the disciplinary issues at the Sheriff’s Department. A Houston Chronicle review of Sheriff’s Office discipline reports from 2007 to August provides a sobering look into a department plagued by deputies, jailers and civilians … Continue reading →

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A better way for law enforcement to deal with the mentally ill

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Good. Three Harris County Sheriff’s deputies will have new partners riding shotgun soon, if county officials approve a pilot program pairing them with mental health workers to deal with mentally disturbed suspects. Sheriff Adrian Garcia said he wants to treat … Continue reading →

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Bailing out the bail bondsmen

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

It’s not often that the District Clerk makes front page headlines, but ours did late last week. Harris County District Clerk Chris Daniel has not collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in court costs since taking office in January because, … Continue reading →

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More ankle monitors

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Harris County will try using ankle monitors on some inmates as a way of reducing the jail population. The program, approved unanimously by Commissioners Court last week, is the county’s latest stab at thinning the jail population. As of Wednesday, … Continue reading →

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County hires jailers to save money

Posted on May 20, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Harris County Commissioners Court has finally admitted that having an adequate number of jailers is more cost-effective than paying for scads of overtime. Just as Sheriff Garcia has been saying all along. Sheriff Adrian Garcia’s payroll was a contentious issue … Continue reading →

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