Reader Responses

It was a bad idea then. It’s a bad idea now. Until local officials have invested more in prevention and diversion and utilized new tools from the Texas Legislature to reduce jail overcrowding, voters should continue to tell the county “No.”

Smith County can reduce jail overcrowding and keep the county safe without building more jail space, and should at least try before approving new jail bonds.

Veteran Tyler District Judge Cynthia Kent proposed a number of viable solutions after voters rejected a new jail last year. Only one of her suggestions was adopted, but it has worked well. The Day Reporting Center she pioneered saved taxpayers more than $1 million in its first nine months, while recidivism for offenders participating went down. It cost less and reduced crime. Isn’t that what voters want.

Judge Kent offered numerous other suggestions for reducing jail overcrowding modeled after successful programs elsewhere, including creating a drug court and reducing bail requirements for low-level, non-violent offenders to make room for more dangerous prisoners. Last month about one-third of Smith County jail inmates were low-level offenders awaiting trial.

Tyler and Smith County should also use new tools to reduce overcrowding created by the Legislature that became law Sept. 1. HB 2391 gave law enforcement officers the discretion to give certain low-level nonviolent misdemeanor offenders a citation and summons rather than take them all downtown for booking into the jail. Combined with Judge Kent’s proposal, this change could eliminate the need to pay other counties to house inmates. But neither Smith County nor the Tyler Police Department will allow officers to use this new discretion.

These ideas aren’t expensive; certainly not as costly as building a new jail, but they need cooperation from local law enforcement and county funding. Somehow cheaper and more immediately effective options receive scant consideration.

The architect who designed the proposed jail told the Tyler Morning Telegraph, “Those who argue the price tag is too high aren’t familiar with the current construction market.” As if that is the only question on the table.

As someone who grew up in the Rose City, I’d argue that those who want to borrow that much aren’t familiar with Tyler’s anti-tax political environment!

If the jail problem is so bad it is worth spending $125 million to solve, voters should demand officials first use tools they already have to better manage overcrowding problems. To justify so much new borrowing, jail builders must be able to show they’ve tried everything else to solve the problem. Right now in Smith County that’s not the case.

Scott Henson
Austin