Advocates Urge Halt To Travis County Plans For New Women's Jail

AUSTIN, TX — Community leaders on Friday urged top Travis County officials to halt plans on building a new women's jail and instead focus on implementing recommendations to reduce incarceration rates.

The letter delivered Friday by representatives of nine community groups suggested county officials implement three policy changes aimed at reducing the county jail population:

• Decriminalize all offenses that are eligible for cite-and-release measures.
• Reevaluate prosecution of state jail felonies.
• Invest in community alternatives to arrest for offenders with mental health issues and substance use disorders.

"More important than upgrading aging buildings or increasing operational efficiency is prioritizing alternatives to incarceration that keep people in their communities and out of jail," advocates wrote in part.

The letter's signatories are:

• Counter Balance ATX, a nonprofit describing its mission as one "....dedicated to improving the quality of life for self-identifying women (womayn), people of the global majority and impoverished people through policy, community-based programs, and resources."
• Excellence and Advancement Foundation, which "...provides services to break the school to prison pipeline by coordinating prevention and intervention programs to support children that may be at risk of becoming involved in the criminal justice system."
• Grassroots Leadership, which describes its mission as one that "...works for a more just society where prison profiteering, mass incarceration, deportation and criminalization are things of the past."
• Lone Star Justice Alliance, which seeks to reduce the incarceration of and improve outcomes for children and emerging adults in the Texas justice system.
• Measure Austin, which undertakes in efforts "...collaboratively creating performance measures with the equal participation of community activists and the police department" in order for the community "...will begin to see the police in a more positive light."
• Texas Advocates for Justice, "...on a mission to end the criminalization of our communities, to break down barriers to reentry from jail and prison in Texas, and to demolish the legacy of racism in the criminal justice system. TAJ unites formerly incarcerated individuals, their families, people of all faiths, and allies to build safe and resilient communities through organizing, leadership training, and connections to community resources."
• Texas Appleseed, a nonprofit public interest justice center that works to change unjust laws and policies preventing Texans from realizing their full potential. The group works with a network of pro bono partners and collaborators to develop and advocate for innovative and practical solutions to complex issues, and conducts data-driven research that uncovers inequity in laws and policies and identifies solutions for lasting, concrete change.
• Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, advancing solutions that transform the adult and youth justice systems to strengthen families and foster safer communities.
• Texas Fair Defense Project, fighting for a criminal justice system that respects the rights of low-income Texans.

Those signing the letter noted that county officials have previously cited the need to upgrade aging facilities and improve conditions for women in the Travis County Jail system as the primary reason for building a new women’s jail.

That's backward thinking, advocates said: “We care deeply about the conditions that our community members endure while they are incarcerated and we look forward to having that conversation,” said Holly Kirby, criminal justice programs director at Grassroots Leadership. “But what this coalition is saying is that we can’t talk about improved conditions for incarcerated women until we have a real plan for reducing the number of women in jail in the first place.”

Halting plans to build a new women’s jail while reinvesting in the community would yield a positive impact on county residents, advocates assured: "We know that jailing women for misdemeanor offenses can lead to the loss of jobs and housing and often leaves children in unstable environments," Susanne Pringle, interim executive director of Texas Fair Defense Project, observed. "Our recommendations, if implemented, will increase public safety and place a lower burden on taxpayers,”

But if county officials proceed with their jail-building plans, concrete plans should be adopted concurrently aimed at reducing what advocates found are "glaring" racial disparities in the detention system. A report released last year revealed significant and persistent discrepancies in the number of days spent in the Travis County jail by people of color, particularly blacks, as compared to whites. These discrepancies existed regardless of a variety of factors, including but not limited to, the number of charges on the booking, the severity level of the charges and whether bond was approved, including personal recognizance bonds, the study found..

“We can’t continue to ignore institutionally racist systems that perpetuate a disparate prison industrial complex in Travis County," Meme Styles, president and founder of MEASURE., said. "Pouring more money into the maintenance of a broken system is counterproductive and disregards the data.”

Jorge Renaud, an organizer with Texas Advocates for Justice, a community organization whose members have all been directly affected by incarceration, said that any local jail construction would inevitably be used to house individuals whose needs had likely been historically neglected: “It’s that cycle — poor people of color can’t get services for their needs, get arrested in disproportionate numbers, and then county officials act as if they are suddenly concerned about those needs now that the jail beds are filled.”

The groups' entire letter can be read here.

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