Texas’ Sunset Commission recommends “abolishing” TYC
Saturday, November 15, 2008 - 1:42 pm
A report released by the Sunset Advisory Commission says TYC remains unable to fix it’s many structural and programmatic short-comings, and suggests the creation of a new agency, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department, that would combine the functions of TYC with the functions of the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission. If the legislature follows the Commission’s recommendation, TYC and TJPC would be dissolved by September 30, 2009.
In fact, the change represents nothing very new. Before the landmark reform lawsuit Morales V. Turman was settled in 1981, juvenile detention and probation services were both provided by TYC. The seperation of those functions, and the creation of an independent probation department, was one of the changes mandated by the Morales settlement agreement.
Neither TYC nor TJPC are embracing the report’s recommendation. Both Cherie Townsend, TYC’s current executive director, and Vicki Spriggs, executive director of the Probation Commission, say they two agencies are looking for ways to collaborate to better coordinate services for youth moving between state detention facilities and services in their home communities after release. “While I appreciate the work of the Sunset staff, I do not believe their report is an accurate portrayal of the Youth Commission today,” Townsend said in a press release put out in response to the Sunset report. “I’m afraid the recommendations are not only outdated but, if adopted, will be counter-productive to our reform efforts.”
Many juvenile justice reform advocates also oppose the change, fearing that the new agency would place an over-emphasis on the incarceration of juvenile delinquents, while hampering reforms focussed on prevention and rehabilitation.
According to the Sunset Commission, the change would involve closing several facilities and laying off staff, saving the state $27 million a year. Implicitly, the report also calls for moving more youth from large-scale secure facilities in remote, rural locations into smaller facilities closer to their homes and families. This is a reform which has been tried several times during the agency’s 100-year history, and one which reformers say is generally more conducive to rehabilitation and a smooth re-entry into the community after release. Historically, however, such initiatives have been successful only when the state has provided sufficient funding and resources to local authorities that they are able to provide for the increased number of youth who remain in their communities.
The closing of facilities would seem indicate the Commission foresees a marked decrease in the number of juveniles who will require secure confinement in the immediate future. This is in direct contrast to the latest projections from the non-partisan Legislative Budget Board, which predict the number of incarcerated juveniles will continue to rise, despite laws passed in 2007 limiting the types of offenses for which juvenile can be sent to TYC, and lowering TYC’s top age limit from 21 to 19. Even with these changes in place, it is predicted that the number of youth incarcerated in Texas will once again exceed the capacity of the secure facilities available for them by June of 2009. Conditions of over-crowding and under-staffing are widely understood to contribute to the chaotic and violent climate that have spurred widespread accusations of abuse and neglect in recent years.
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