judges responsible for harris jail

Judges responsible for Harris jail overcrowding

Who is responsible for the overincarceration crisis at the Harris

County Jail? It's the judges' fault, the Houston Chronicle's Steve

McVicker reported this morning.

That isn't news to regular Grits readers, who already know that Harris

County judges frequently require defendants to post cash bond

unneccessarily and jail drug users instead of sending them to

treatment. Even so, I'm glad the local media has figured out who's to

blame. Earlier reporting made jail overcrowding sound inevitable, like

an Act of God.

Looking for more? In several prior posts all linked here, Grits

discussed in detail the causes of overincarceration in Harris County,

adumbrating more fully the two studies cited by the Chronicle.

UPDATE (8-23): The Chron's editorial board followed up, placing

responsibility for county jail overcrowding squarely where it belongs:

on former prosecutors turned "activist judges." They wrote:

The county's judiciary is drawn almost exclusively from the ranks

of former prosecutors and is known for tough sentencing. However,

it makes no sense to fill the jail to overflowing with nonviolent

defendants who lack the financial wherewithal to buy a get out of

jail pass.

Likewise, throwing prisoners convicted of minor drug offenses into

the county jail is bad justice. State law recognizes that society

is best-served by rehabilitating minor drug offenders through

treatment and counseling in a nonpenal setting. Activist judges

here, ignoring the conservative mantra that judges should follow

the law, decided on their own to thwart the intent of Texas

lawmakers.