As the Legislative session rolls on in Austin, there have been some high profile stories posted in the Austin American Statesman regarding the TDCJ. Mike Ward, who reports for the Statesman and has often been critical of the agency, posted a couple of pieces that caught our eye. First, Senator Whitmire, Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chair, wants to know why the Region III Central unit that was shuttered over a year ago is still being manned with staff, and hasn't been bulldozed to the ground yet. TDCJ says it's a slow process and attributes the delay to the construction of a new agriculture warehouse and distribution center which will be the new distribution point taking over for the one still located and operating on the Central prison unit property. Hold your horses Senator Whitmire, these things take awhile.
Another eye catcher we saw also deals with Senator Whitmire. He wants youth (17 & 18 yr olds) currently incarcerated in the former TYC (Texas Youth Commission) now better known as the TJJD (Texas Juvenile Justice Department) that are violent or habitual rule violators to be housed in adult prisons. This will add to the nearly 200 "youthful offenders" housed already in adult lock ups. We did a story on this topic months back. You can find it by entering keywords "youthful offenders" in our site search box. Read our story to see why this may not be a good idea after all.
From the Desk of BoBoTheBeaten:
ReplyDeleteI bet that Senator Twitmire and his legion of idiots will get to the bottom of this.
Tdcj has leased out all the farm land around Jester units and Central unit. Jester lll has security horses they do not ever use ( need to sell ). Jester l still has its pig operation. The pig lagoons a over filling into the ( Oyster Creek ) creek. At the pig barn off Hwy 99 , the inmates illegal restroom runs into a 55 gallon barrel. That runs into Oyster Creek when heavy rains cum. Jester 4 turn into a county hospital. But close the others. Jester 1 has a old brick plant that needs to be cleaned up over the high levels of asbestus. That leaks into Oyster Creek. Sell the land. TDCJ is waiting for one child to get hurt by a inmate. Then they will close.
ReplyDeleteLove BoBo's comment because it's such a typical Twitmire response. What I find most interesting is that he has so many things to get to the bottom of - doesn't that really just mean that he's seriously uninformed? He LIVES in Houston but didn't notice that the unit still has operations up and running? How does one get to be chair of a committee when you know so very little about what's actually going on? Amazing!
ReplyDeleteYea, it's not like he doesn't have several $100K a year aides to keep him informed.
ReplyDeleteI think Whitmire is looking at the fact TDCJ officers are more professional then TJJC officers. If you think TDCJ is bad, TJJC is worse with a higher officer turnover rate.
ReplyDeleteRemember the problems with TDCJ were caused by the agency leadership years ago who would not go to bat for their employees getting a pay raise.
The problems with TDCJ go above Whitmire's committee who only handles bills on CJ law and not finance. Officers who live around Conroe (Montgomery County) need to be in contact with their senator Tommy Williams who heads the senate finance committee.
If you contact his office, don't be an a$$hole... Nicely ask for him to support a cost of living pay adjustment for the last two years and the next two years. That is 3.5% x 4= 14% which is a fair pay adjustment.
His email: tommy.williams@senate.state.tx.us
Office number: 512.463.0104
Remember his nice staff are not inmates!!! Don't be an A$$hole if you contact them. FYI they are state employees too, who make less then TDCJ officers and have the higher cost of living in Austin without a payraise for the last 4 years instead of 2 years.
From The Desk of BoBoTheBeaten:
ReplyDeleteMaybe Senator Twitmire doesn't know we haven't gotten a raise in four years. It seems conceivable with so little he seems to know. I bet now he'll get to the bottom of it. You're so worried about employees being nice you sound like someone's little lap dog.
Twitmire has been whimpering and belly aching for over a decade, and his girlie yelps only worsened when you know when deathrow inmate threatened him five years ago w/a deaththreat. We staff had to endure daily patdowns at our facility for FIVE YEARS on that b/c of Twitmire's cellphone phobia. Meanwhile we take hundreds of deaththreats a year, 95% of which are total BS. and we don't cry. Twitmire should man up and take a few lessons from his sister in law Cathy. and stop whining.
ReplyDeleteI would love to be able to stop the needless bull$hit that comes from higher rank. Bullies that need their own medicine, and more!!!
ReplyDelete