From air conditioning Texas prisons to decriminalizing many types of drugs are among the demands of dozens of relatives of incarcerated inmates who gathered on the steps of the State Capitol last night, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The organization Texas Inmate Families Association held the rally, which also demands an end to 'solitary confinement.'The groups Jennifer Erschebeck says it is time for Texas to get away from the discredited 'lock 'em up' policies.
"I call upon Texans who oppose mass and expensive incarceration to join us in bringing about the end of misguided policies," she said.
The main goal of the rally is to bring an end to simple possession not just of marijuana, but of a number of now illegal drugs.
"If there had been justice in our justice system I would have been home with my small children, instead of in prison on a small drug charge," Lauren Johnson said.
There are several initiatives underway to end mass incarceration, and to improve the ability of criminals who have paid their debt to society to get jobs and become taxpaying, productive members of society, which will make them far less likely to return to criminal activities.
The City of San Antonio, for example, recently approved a 'ban the box' initiative to end the practice of asking job applicants if they have ever been convicted of a crime. If a person checks that box, the individual is as much as 70% less likely to get an interview and get the job, regardless of qualifications.
There is also a move to end high bonds, with a recent study pointing out that fully three quarters of people who are in Texas County Jails today have never been convicted of anything. They are there simply because they can't afford bail, or, in some cases, could not afford to pay a traffic ticket. That figure is up from just one quarter of County Jail inmates twenty years ago.
The state's policy of lengthy sentences is also under fire, which experts pointing out that it is the 'certainty of arrest and punishment' and not the length of the sentence, which will dissauade a person from committing a crime.The air conditioning of prisons is also a major issue.
Several lawsuits have been filed, claiming housing inmates in metal cells in the summertime, when temperatures can reach 120 degrees or more inside the un air conditioned cell, amounts to 'cruel and unusual punishment.'
The state says it would cost Texas taxpayers billions of dollars to air conditioning the state's prisons.The incarceration of individuals on simple drug possession charges is also a very controversial issue, with many people advocating drug treatment and other intervention.
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