In early September of this year, it was reported that the Dallas County jail reached capacity, holding over 7,000 incarcerated people, despite our District Attorney John Creuzot blaming the overcrowding on an “inefficient” software system. Overcrowding of the Dallas County jail could worsen if Proposition 3 is passed.
Of the over 200 Texas county jails in operation, nearing capacity has been a common occurrence and ongoing issue, which has caused some county jails to outsource incarcerated people to private prisons or out of state. Tarrant County jail had a contract with a private prison in West Texas to outsource incarcerated people in an attempt to resolve overcrowding, which ended in 2024 after the private prison failed its state inspection for not meeting minimum state jail standards set forth by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. Harris County spends over $50 million per year outsourcing incarcerated people to Mississippi and Louisiana due to overcrowding and understaffing.
Community members gathered on September 20 at Dallas County jail to hand out release kits, snacks, and supplies to those recently released from the jail. Photo Credit: Tamera H.
Outsourcing is an additional hefty cost to taxpayers in a state that has one of the largest pretrial detention populations in the U.S. In Dallas, it costs about $88 per day to house a person in Lew Sterrett Justice Center, and roughly $18 million per year based on the Dallas jail population.
In 2022, Dallas had a significant court backlog with lower disposition numbers of criminal judges in Dallas County, causing the county to spend millions on “backlog courts”. Court backlogs result in longer pretrial detention while defendants await an outcome for their case, which research has shown can lead to further rearrest and higher recidivism. A majority of the pretrial detention population has not been convicted and is presumed legally innocent. Defendants are entitled to a speedy trial under the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and the Texas State Constitution also protects this right under Article 1, Section 10 of the Bill of Rights.
This proposition would deny bail for specific violent felony charges, such as murder and aggravated assault. Texas law already allows the denial of bail for those accused of serious offenses under Article 1, Section 11 of our state constitution.
It has been reported that Dallas continues to see a decrease in violent crime overall, and in 2024 had the lowest level of homicides. The zip codes most impacted by homicides due to mostly gun violence in 2024 were 75215 and 75216, which primarily consists of South Dallas and parts of Oak Cliff, with a majority of the victims being male, Black or Latino, and between the ages of 18 and 29. These zip codes are also the highest incarcerated parts of Dallas, disproportionately impacting low-income and predominantly Black and Latino communities.
This proposition would not only increase incarceration rates for our most impacted communities already facing higher incarceration and police interactions, it would not improve public safety nor reduce recidivism. Non-partisan national studies, such as those by The Brookings Institution and The Society of Policy Modeling, have shown that investments in economic opportunity attributes can be a deterrent to crime. Studies have found that a lack of economic opportunity has been linked to higher rates of violent crime.
While Dallas County wants to troubleshoot the overcrowding in the jail, if this proposition is enacted, it will further exacerbate the public health crisis that exists in Dallas County jails and county jails across the state. Over 50% of people booked in the jail in 2024 had been identified as receiving mental health services through our local mental health authorities during booking. No county jail should have the highest rate of confinement of those with mental health diagnoses. The county should anticipate this percentage to increase, and face further strain when their jail facilities and staffing are not equipped to handle or divert people who need comprehensive care.
Proposition 3 is not the solution that would further destabilize safety for our communities on the streets of our neighborhoods and inside the jail walls.
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Tamera Hutcherson
469-580-8073
Address: 401 N Carroll Ave Apt 1217
Dallas, TX 75246
Tamera Hutcherson is a Dallas-based community organizer who previously worked for Texas Jail Project.
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