AUSTIN (AP) - More than 70 percent of inmates in Texas
prisons are black or Latino, nearly doubling their percentage of the general population, according to a report released Thursday.
The report by the Washington, D.C-based Justice Policy Institute found
that blacks are sent to prison at a rate five times higher that whites in Texas. Latinos were incarcerated at twice the rate
of whites, the report said.
Gary Bledsoe, state director of the Texas National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People, said spending more money on education and health care would help people avoid the crimes that
send them to prison.
"We must shift some of the funding away from locking people up and begin
to send a direct message that in this nation, in this state, each person is accorded the same opportunities for success without
regards to race," Bledsoe said.
The report found that Latinos have a rapidly increasing presence in Texas
prisons. In 2002, Latinos represented the greatest share of new admissions (34 percent) but had the smallest percentage of
inmates released (26 percent).
Ana Yanez-Correa of the League of United Latin American Citizens said
the state should move to create more treatment and community programs that might help keep some defendants from going to prison.
"We need to be smart on crime, rather than tough on crime," she said.
"Our legislators should support pro-family criminal justice policies that unite families, save taxpayers' money and improve
the safety of our communities."
State and House and Senate leaders are considering expanding probation
and drug treatment programs this legislative session as a way to curb the state's rising prison population.
