TEXARKANA, Texas – A relationship between LaSalle Corrections and Bowie County dating back to 2010 is coming to a close, a situation that is not too uncommon in Texas and other parts of the country.
Texarkana FYI reported the contract will be terminated effective Feb. 12, 2021, as incoming Bowie County Sheriff Jeff Neal will be tasked with overseeing jail facilities. The County has prepared for the transition with budgeting and planning to hire employees to staff the Bowie County Correctional Center and Bi-State Jail.
LaSalle, prior to backing out of its contract, has been the subject of a number of lawsuits in regard to inmate injuries and deaths.
Nicole D. Porter
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Nicole D. Porter, director of Advocacy for The Sentencing Project; said that private prisons expanded in the 1980s, but local and state agencies have taken control back in efforts to save funding.
“I think that there are two issues there — I think agency officials are focused on reducing their budget,” Porter said. “Now, what the outcomes of budget reductions mean in terms of not only efficiency but maintaining constitutional levels of care for continued imprisoned residents is a question.”
She noted that leadership moving forward in Texas is a question and will need to be monitored. There is a concern the focus is more on trimming budgets than providing the care that is constitutionally required. Porter remarked that as an austerity state, Texas has had a history of cutting budgets with Gov. Greg Abbot and those leading up to him.
“I know that given COVID budget issues, just overall austerity practices in Texas, that the governor has already signaled to state agencies to reduce their budgets going into 2021,” Porter said.
Although COVID-19 has had an impact, Porter said the pandemic is a byproduct of state actions.
“I think what is leading this issue is budget reduction and meeting the challenge for the governor to reduce the state agency in line with what other state agencies are working to do,” she said.
Porter did add that private prisons are not necessarily efficient either. In the private sector, finances are managed to reduce costs and make profits, which can lead to issues with staffing as they are underpaid and undertrained, which contributes to an environment conducive to prison violence.
“In order to maximize profits, there is a long history of understaffing, because one of the easiest ways to control spending is to reduce labor expenditures,” Porter said, noting also the chronic understaffing of private prisons has been documented.
Private prisons are not uncommon in Texas, although the trend is moving in the other direction. How the changeover impacts counties like Bowie has yet to be seen. There is no certainty that Bowie, like its predecessor, will not find itself facing litigation in the future.
“Prison agencies — regardless of private or public — have been subject to litigation ... because of chronic overcrowding,” Porter said.