Bexar County Jails are severely overcrowded. Over 40% of the County budget goes to housing inmates. We currently have 4,650 to 4,700 inmates in our jails, each costing the County over $20,000 per year. Spending this money would be worth it if inmates were being corrected. More than 80 percent of the individuals who go to Bexar County Jails have been there before. Every month, 5,000 individuals leave local jails, needing housing, medical treatment, employment, and counseling. Local communities are severely burdened by this influx of needy individuals and are only able to provide minimal services, adding to the reason why ex-offenders continue to fall back to a life of crime. Decreasing the recidivism is necessary to make our communities safer and ease the burden tax burden of our citizens.
Bexar County Re-Entry Council
This is why I pushed for the development of the Bexar County Re-Entry Council, joining Fort Worth, Austin, and Houston as the only cities in the state with a re-entry council. The Re-Entry Council is made up of over 60 stakeholders representing judicial, legislative, law enforcement, and social service stakeholders. The Council’s mission is to reduce recidivism by providing cost effective services, supports and systems-of-care that facilitate offenders’ transition from incarceration to contributing, law-abiding, self sufficient citizens of Bexar County.
The Re-Entry Council:
Serves as the community’s think tank concerning re-entry strategies and projects;
Leverages existing community resources;
Recommends changes in legislation and policies that foster successful re-entry;
Identifies and facilitates strategic collaborations between government, private and non-profit providers.
Future Programs from the Re-Entry Council:
The development of a Re-Entry Court modeled after the Drug Court, but focused on offenders who have not bonded out of jail;
The development of a Re-Entry Workshop through which major stakeholders participate in a work session focused on the successful integration of offenders into the community;
The development of a Re-Entry Job Fair focused exclusively on connecting employers with offenders.
The Re-Entry Council is composed of 6 subcommittees focusing on employment and education, housing and social services, mental health and substance abuse, women’s issues, legislative issues, and research and evaluation. Membership in any of these subcommittees is open to all Bexar County residents. For more information on participating call Commissioner Adkisson’s office at 335-2614.
Articles by Commissioner Adkisson:
Texas Corrections System Needs Fixing – San Antonio Express News - March 13, 2009
Let’s Be Audacious and Hopeful! – San Antonio Express News – April 27, 2009
The Issues