Texas to shutter three more prisons as units face critical staffing shortages
As the state prison system sees fewer inmates and a critical shortage of officers in the pandemic, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is permanently closing another prison and shuttering two more at least temporarily.
The Scott prison in Brazoria County will be closed on Dec. 15, and the Gurney and Neal units, near Palestine and Amarillo, respectively, will be emptied and temporarily closed by the end of the year, a TDCJ spokesperson told The Texas Tribune Tuesday. Inmates and desperately needed staff will be transferred to nearby lockups, according to TDCJ.
The agency already closed three lockups in September as the inmate population plummeted during the pandemic to the lowest number seen in decades, according to state budget reports. From March to October, 18,000 fewer inmates resided in the Texas prison system after the coronavirus caused a months-long halt of transfers from county jails and a backlogged, sluggish court system.
“The population is 122,000 and change, and it’s been fairly stable in the 121 to 122,000 range for a couple months now,” said TDCJ spokesperson Jeremy Desel. “But that’s the lowest prison population for TDCJ since 1995.”
Read more: https://theeagle.com/news/state-and-regional/texas-to-shutter-three-more-prisons-as-units-face-critical-staffing-shortages/article_c5b48505-8a6f-5d8c-8e81-4baaea5247e8.html
(Bryan-College Station Eagle)