Texas Tough

Although leased convicts built much of Texas’s state capitol, the elegant building’s occupants rarely produce anything to help prisoners. The last serious reform session took place in 1983, and it didn’t amount to much, and its innovations didn’t last long. This session, however, prisoners and their advocates did rack up at least one victory, albeit a modest one. Starting in a year or so, Texas convicts, for the first time, will have regular access to telephones.

 Yes, I realize these handy communication devices were invented during the Gilded Age. But why rush things? In Texas, much of the original penitentiary silent system endured into the 1980s, as did the ban on contact visits. The telephone prohibition persisted as a similar relic. Now, thanks to merciful legislators like Terri Hodge, tireless grassroots organizations like CURE and the Texas Inmate Families Association, and thoughtful publicity provided by Grits for Breakfast, it’s gone.

That’s good news. Now the catch. The new legislation may end up putting inmates in touch with their loved ones but bankrupting them in the process. The law instructs TDCJ to award a monopoly contract laden with cumbersome security features and a profit-sharing scheme, which means users are going to pay dearly. We’ve got a significant innovation here, in other words, but with the poorest people in the state footing the bill. I suppose that’s progress.