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Tamera Hutcherson is a Dallas-based community organizer who previously worked for the Texas Jail Project. She has written the op-ed below regarding Proposition 3, one of the 17 propositions on the Nov. 4 statewide ballot.
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 the incarceration of people to private prisons or out of state. Tarrant County jail had a contract with a private prison in West Texas to outsource incarceration in an attempt to resolve overcrowding. However, the contract ended in 2024 after the private prison failed its state inspection for not meeting the minimum standards set forth by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. Harris County spends over $50 million per year outsourcing incarceration to Mississippi and Louisiana due to overcrowding and understaffing.
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 approximately $88 per day to house a person in the 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 for defendants awaiting the outcome of their case, a situation that research has shown can lead to further rearrest and higher recidivism rates. 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 affected by gun violence homicides in 2024 were 75215 and 75216, which primarily consist 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 also have the highest incarceration numbers in Dallas, disproportionately impacting low-income and predominantly Black and Latino communities.
Proposition 3 would not only increase incarceration rates for our most impacted communities already facing higher incarceration and police interactions, but it would not improve public safety nor reduce recidivism. Non-partisan national studies from The Brookings Institution and The Society of Policy Modeling have shown that investments in economic opportunity are associated with a deterrent to crime, as studies have found a lack of economic opportunity to be linked to higher rates of violent crime.
While Dallas County aims to address overcrowding in the jail, if this proposition is enacted, it will further exacerbate the public health crisis already existing in Dallas County 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 its 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 stabilize safety for our communities, on the streets of our neighborhoods or inside jail walls.
