The Political Dynamics of Justice Reform in The U.S.
The Political Dynamics of Justice Reform in The U.S.
The Political Dynamics of Justice Reform in The U.S.
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As the TDC cont<strong>in</strong>ued to fight aspects <strong>of</strong> <strong>Justice</strong>’s rul<strong>in</strong>g on appeal through the 1980s<br />
and 1990s, Ruiz v. Estelle provided penal hard-l<strong>in</strong>ers <strong>in</strong> Texas with an opportunity to<br />
expand, bureaucratize, and pr<strong>of</strong>essionalize the longstand<strong>in</strong>g model <strong>of</strong> punishment<br />
based on maximum control at m<strong>in</strong>imum cost, with little outside oversight. <strong>The</strong>se hardl<strong>in</strong>ers,<br />
<strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g top Republicans and Democrats, ultimately gutted many <strong>of</strong> the courtordered<br />
reforms. As for Ruiz, the lead pla<strong>in</strong>tiff <strong>in</strong> what became a class-action lawsuit, he<br />
served out a life sentence for armed robbery, <strong>of</strong>ten <strong>in</strong> solitary conf<strong>in</strong>ement <strong>in</strong> a cramped,<br />
dank, dungeon-like cell. Just months before he died <strong>in</strong> 2005, he was moved to a prison<br />
hospital after be<strong>in</strong>g denied medical parole. As Robert Perk<strong>in</strong>son dryly notes <strong>in</strong> Texas<br />
Tough: <strong>The</strong> Rise <strong>of</strong> America’s Prison Empire, his monumental history <strong>of</strong> crime and<br />
punishment <strong>in</strong> Texas, Ruiz fought the law, but the law ultimately won.<br />
As calls to end mass <strong>in</strong>carceration have escalated over the last decade, Texas is be<strong>in</strong>g<br />
hailed once aga<strong>in</strong> as a model for crim<strong>in</strong>al justice reform. Politicians from Barack Obama<br />
to Donald Trump have lauded the Lone Star State for new “smart on crime” policies or<br />
for embrac<strong>in</strong>g “Right on Crime,” the crim<strong>in</strong>al justice movement associated with<br />
prom<strong>in</strong>ent conservatives, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g Newt G<strong>in</strong>grich, Grover Norquist, and the Koch<br />
brothers. Right on Crime promotes a view <strong>of</strong> mass <strong>in</strong>carceration as primarily a dollarsand-cents<br />
problem for taxpayers that requires a pragmatic, bipartisan approach—<br />
divert<strong>in</strong>g attention from the racial, economic, and social <strong>in</strong>equities that built the carceral<br />
state and susta<strong>in</strong> it today.<br />
<strong>The</strong> orig<strong>in</strong> story <strong>of</strong> the latter-day turnaround <strong>in</strong> Texas’s crim<strong>in</strong>al justice system dates<br />
back to 2007, when legislators decided aga<strong>in</strong>st spend<strong>in</strong>g an estimated $2 billion on new<br />
prison construction to accommodate projections that the state would need an additional<br />
seventeen thousand prison beds by 2012. Instead, they enacted some modest changes<br />
<strong>in</strong> probation and parole to redirect people to community supervision; they also restored<br />
some fund<strong>in</strong>g for substance abuse and mental health treatment. <strong>The</strong> attempt to slow<br />
down prison construction was, <strong>in</strong> fact, a big change from the post-Ruiz era, when the<br />
state attempted to build its way out <strong>of</strong> the overcrowd<strong>in</strong>g problem. And yet, even though<br />
Texas was required to face up to certa<strong>in</strong> realities—first by the Ruiz case and later by<br />
budget constra<strong>in</strong>ts—the Texas penal system, after all these years, has not really<br />
changed its stripes.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Texas Prison Complex<br />
For all the hype, Texas rema<strong>in</strong>s “more or less the epicenter <strong>of</strong> mass <strong>in</strong>carceration on<br />
the planet,” accord<strong>in</strong>g to Scott Henson, author <strong>of</strong> Grits for Breakfast, the <strong>in</strong>dispensable<br />
blog on crim<strong>in</strong>al justice and law enforcement <strong>in</strong> Texas. Other states have far surpassed<br />
Texas <strong>in</strong> reduc<strong>in</strong>g the size <strong>of</strong> their <strong>in</strong>carcerated populations and <strong>in</strong> provid<strong>in</strong>g safer and<br />
more humane lock-ups that are not such blatant affronts to the Eighth Amendment’s<br />
ban on cruel and unusual punishment.<br />
Texas today <strong>in</strong>carcerates nearly one-quarter <strong>of</strong> a million people <strong>in</strong> its jails and prisons—<br />
more than the total number <strong>of</strong> prisoners <strong>in</strong> Germany, France, and the United K<strong>in</strong>gdom<br />
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