Texas Department of Criminal
Justice director Gary Johnson testified to the Senate Criminal Justice Committee that the agency must spend 90% of its budget on prison beds due to "front end pressure."
That means that there are so many felons entering the prison, and the prison has a legal duty to hold them inside due to long sentences, that TDCJ has no choice – it
must spend 90% of its budget (4.5 billion tax dollars) on prison beds, leaving almost no money
available for alternatives to incarceration and "what works".
There
are almost 2,000 felonies in Texas. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles maintains a list of
1941 individual felonies that exist in Texas law. That means there are almost 2,000 different behaviors or actions that will subject a Texan to prison and make the person a felon for the rest of his or her life.
1 in every 11 adults who live in Texas is already a
felon.
