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Reforming Texas Justice System
Network Seeks To Help Former
African-American Inmates

Concerns over the plight of African-American inmates and parolees leaving the Texas prison system is sparking activists across the Dallas-Fort Worth area to unite and team with legislators to make changes to the system.
“We must stop the revolving doors in the Texas criminal justice system,” said Dallas State Rep. Terri Hodge, who supports the work of the newly organized Texas Justice Network. “Inmates and parolees and those on probation need a stronger support system that prepares them to come home and helps them re-enter society in a positive way and prevents them from going back.”
The group of concerned citizens met in South Dallas last week and is organizing grandparents, parents, spouses and community groups across the Metroplex for an all out blitz to change the way the state thinks and deals with those serving time in the prison.
“Our goal is to rally people to be more involved in demanding changes that help break the cycle that lands many back in prison for parole violations or repeat criminal activity,” she said. “The Texas Justice Network wants to get the word out that changes are on the way, but it will take the efforts of family members and concerned community to make it happen.”
In a recent interview, network activist Joyce Brown stated the work of the group is two-fold and will include advocating for love ones in the prison system and working to make laws that prevent the mistreatment and abuse of inmates and educating, informing and helping more family members get involved in grassroots efforts to change the system and make conditions better for family members serving time.
Other work the network seeks to accomplish is to assist inmates develop better job preparation skills and helping them obtain vital records and identification information, such as social security cards, birth certificates and drivers licenses and after being released. The group is also working to keep the lines of communication between families and inmates intact.
Hodge, Brown and others are calling on more family members and concerned citizens statewide to make their voices heard by writing, calling or contacting each legislator in Austin and lobbying them to make changes.
“We don’t want any inmate leaving the system left behind,” Hodge said. “It is our hope that by nurturing and encouraging active participation by family and friends, we can bring about positive change and break the current malaise about the system at legislative levels.”
For a long time, the emphasis in courts statewide has been on cracking down on crime and making neighborhoods safe resulting in to lock up all offenders and throw away the keys.
With more than 150,000 inmates assigned to the state’s prison system and an increasing number of non-violent offenders on prison rolls, the costs involved in caring for these inmates is causing some to rethink the process.
Currently, taxpayers pay about $30,000 a year to lock and house an inmate.
The state only spends an average of $5,000 per child in school districts to education children.
“It’s not about being soft on crime, but looking at our priorities,” she said. “We want to help people help themselves and stop the system from hanging over their heads and holding them hostage while they try to straighten their lives.”
Many convicted felons get released and end up returning to Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin or San Antonio without a solid post prison support system. Of those, about 20,000 were paroled in the Dallas area alone over the past five years.
Many leaving prison after serving sentences are cast back out onto the street without a support system to help them make a transition back into society after years behind bars.
With the greater concentration of former inmates ending up in major cities without support, many are homeless, unemployed and often end up in neighborhoods or environments that do not encourage law-abiding behavior.
Coupled with that are fear of failure, the requirements and pressures of paying probation fees and fines and the problem of finding housing, employment and assistance with basic information assistance and support services.
“We must find a way to curb and change these trends,” she said. “It makes more sense to reexamine the current system and distribute the money better for treatment and services rather than continue to pay for more years of incarceration.”
Hodge added that each time an inmate returns to jail, it adds an extreme burden to an already taxed criminal justice system.
For African-Americans leaving prison is an uphill struggle. Many are faced with the stigma of being a former convicted felon and end up living on the street or in a half-way house because of the lack of support from family and inability to rent an apartment or hold a job.
Network members, Hodge and others want the emphasis changed from building more prisons to looking at rehabilitation options that would offer treatment alternatives and drug court monitoring to ease the burden on the system and allow non-violent offenders the opportunity to rebuild their lives.
“Time works against these men and women,” Hodge added. “Many end up giving up and going back in to the system because it is easier to go back and get three hot (meals) and a cot than it is to make it on the outside.”
According to Hodge, support, treatment and recovery options offer hope and can help break the cycle by offering ways for former African-American inmates to rebuild their lives and family relationships.
The group expects to hold a series of meetings in Fort Worth next month to expand efforts to reform the system.