Killin' Time with Carl

           While waiting for the Senate Criminal Justice Committee meeting to begin, Margaret and I engaged in a conversation with an older gentleman who said he was there to advocate for the inclusion of mental health considerations in the upcoming House and Senate bills. We explained our reasons for being there and then had a fascinating hour-long conversation with him about the recent criminal justice and juvenile justice bills in the 82^nd legislative session.  When asked if we could include the conversation in our blog, he told us that he would prefer that we not use his name because he did not want his “personal opinion to be confused with anything else.”  For the purposes of the blog, then, we will call him Carl. 

            Carl is a man in his sixties who has done extensive professional and volunteer work in the criminal justice and mental health fields in Texas.  Originally from Dallas, he moved to Austin more than ten years ago and is a dedicated advocate for mental health and criminal justice programs in the area.  Because of our interest in HB 1915 and his obvious expertise in criminal justice, I asked for his opinion on the bill.  Surprisingly, Carl told us that he was actually a long-time “substance abuse volunteer” at the TYC institution in Giddings, TX.  He shared many anecdotes about his volunteer time there and said then told us that he was in favor of the merger between TYC and TJPC.  Carl said, “There is no way that anyone is going to be able to argue that spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on TYC institutions that aren’t even effective is worth it.”  He said that there are facilities in Texas that are doing a good job of rehabilitating their committed population, but there are also facilities that are using corporal punishment and doing more harm than rehabilitation.  He described the institutions he had visited; and with the exception of Giddings, every institution sounded depressing and sad.  “Once you walk through those gates, everything turns gloomy,” he added.  Carl said it would be beneficial for each TYC facility to complete a needs assessment and calculate the individual costs for each facility to run efficiently.  “I doubt this will happen, though, so HB 1915 is the next best thing,” Carl said with a sigh.

            Ideally, the closure of some inefficient TYC institutions would allow for more funds to be spent on rehabilitation and psycho-educational programs for the youth that stay in the institutions.  Instead of focusing on punishment, the institutions could provide psychoeducational classes, counseling, chemical dependency treatment, and other methods proven to be effective in working with delinquent youth.  Because of Carl’s positive substance abuse volunteer experience at Giddings, he added that Giddings would be an ideal facility to pilot a new TYC institution that holds rehabilitation and treatment just as highly as punishment.

            Carl definitely swayed me.  After hearing some of his personal stories about the mistreatment of youth in TYC institutions, I am both alarmed and concerned for the future of juvenile justice in Texas.  I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation with Carl and hope to have many more interesting conversations about the future of juvenile justice in Texas.

McLennan County State Juvenile Correctional Facility, Unit 1, Mart, TX

Giddings State School, Giddings, TX