Does closing prisons save the state?

Austin American Statesman (AAS) has an editorial called "Money misspent on prisons is money better spent elsewhere." (Link to article) The writers of this editorial claims that the incarceration rate has dropped to 150,000, a decline of about 7000 prisoners from what was reported three years ago. This number is supposed to continue to decrease since the rate of crime in Texas has dropped. The state of Texas is focusing more on rehabilitation and treatment programs for certain crimes.

This also holds true for the 6 juvenile detention centers in Texas that are only filled to half the capacity. The editorial states that Texas, in addition to the state run prisons, they also leases beds from privately operated prisons and spend $123 million to lease these beds. The rational for keeping these prisons open is for economic reasons, by keeping them running, it means more jobs for the counties they are located.

Gregory Hooks says these findings are incorrect and that the prison does not contribute much, it may actually negatively impact the economy. Hooks backs these finding up by stating, "is attributable partly to the lower pay and fewer benefits offered by private prisons, which also have a higher turnover rate than state prisons."

The proposal is to not renew the contracts with the privately run prisons when the contract runs up. Also to close two per-parole transfer facilities that are privately run that house around 4400 prisoners and employ 757 workers. Once these are closed they want to consolidate the prisoners to direct money elsewhere.

I do believe that there is a way to consolidate and this editorial makes very valid points. One thing that would have to be done is to make sure nonviolent offenders are not mixed in with the violent ones. They will need to keep the prisons open that can keep these criminals separate in different cellblocks. Closing privately run prisons and hiring more workers in state run prisons may end up being more profitable for the employee and reduce turnover rates for the state.

Here is the link to the article:
Money misspent on prisons is money better spent elsewhere

What are laws for?

This is an article published in the Austin American Statesman about the total amount of money paid out to lawmakers/lobbyists each year for their pension plan/retirement funds. This is money that the taxpayers of Texas pay. A group called Texans for Public Justice a watchdog group, filed a lawsuit to have the courts force the Employees Retirement System (ERS) to release the information to the public about how much is being paid out to the mere 103 former lawmakers (who are now lobbyists). The courts ruling was that it was against the law to release these records because doing so would violate a few laws and the persons collecting the retirement/pension and is confidential information not to be made public. The article also states that Rick Perry, who is officially "retired", is collecting his pension on top of the $150,000.00 salary he collects from the State for being Governor. Not even regular state employees are allowed to do this, officials say. Judge Livingston states, "I'm torn between the public's right to have the information and the privacy rights of the individuals."

So what is it with politicians, lawmakers, lobbyists, etc., the people who are supposed to be out there working for us and protecting our rights? I don't understand why they are more worried about protecting their own rights over the rights of the entire population of Texas. Why do they get reelected ever year if this is public knowledge? Seems to me that this law was passed only to protect a select few. I thought laws were passed to protect the general public.

Here is the link to the article:
Pension benefits for ex-lawmakers remain secret