Report: State Jails Are a Bad Deal for Taxpayers

Report: State Jails Are A Bad Deal For Taxpayers – A new report says state jails in Texas are ineffective, expensive, and actually result in higher recidivism rates than Texas prisons.The report from the Texas Public Policy Foundation suggests taxpayers are getting a bad deal on their tax dollars and public safety.The report’s author, Jeanette Moll, says through the research they have found state jails have become a costly substitute for prisons.”These facilities were actually exceeding the expenses, and had higher recidivism rates than prisons, that adds up to a pretty bad deal for Texas taxpayers,” said Moll.The report points out that in 2010 prison costs varied from 4 to 9 per day per offender, varying with the type of prison. State jails costs rose to 3 per day in 2010. Stating state jail costs for state run facilities rose 38.5 percent between 1998 and 2010.”Right now we’re not doing that to the best of our abilities,” said Moll. “When we know we’ve got state felons choosing to go to a state jail, when we know we are spending too much on these facilities and not getting a good return we are really failing tax payers.”A statement released to KEYE TV from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice says, “The agency defers to the Legislature regarding the policy recommendations contained in the report. As reported in the LBB report entitled Statewide Criminal Justice Recidivism and Revocation Rates January 2011, property and drug offenders have higher recidivism rates than more violent criminals. That accounts for much of …