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Texas Department of Criminal Justice

 
Hoover's Profile: Texas Department of Criminal Justice
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Contact Information
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Spur 59 off Hwy. 75 North
Huntsville, TX 77320
TX Tel. 936-295-6371
Fax 936-437-2123

Type: Government Agency
On the web: http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us

Most offenders locked up in Texas prisons are managed by the state Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). The department oversees more than 155,000 inmates in more than 100 facilities including state prisons, state jails, and private correctional facilities that contract with TDCJ. Additionally, it funds and oversees more than 430,000 people on community supervision (aka probation) and supervises offenders who are released on parole. TDCJ programs include rehabilitation and reentry programs and victim services. Information resources on offenders and their families, death row, and prison deterrence education are published regularly by TDCJ. The Texas Board of Criminal Justice oversees TDCJ's operations.

Officers:
Chairman: Oliver J. Bell
Executive Director: Brad Livingston
Deputy Executive Director: Bryan Collier

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Wikipedia: Texas Department of Criminal Justice
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Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Texas DCJ logo.png
Logo of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Agency overview
Formed 1989
Employees 37,000 (2004)
Annual budget $2.5 billion USD (2006)
Legal personality Governmental: Government agency
Jurisdictional structure
Operations jurisdiction* State of Texas, USA
Map of USA TX.svg
Map of Texas Department of Criminal Justice's jurisdiction.
Size 261,797 square miles
Population 24,326,974 (2008 est.)[1]
General nature
Operational structure
Headquarters Huntsville
Agency executives
  • Brad Livingston, Executive Director
  • Oliver J. Bell, Chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice
Website
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Website
Footnotes
* Divisional agency: Division of the country, over which the agency has usual operational jurisdiction.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities, funding and certain oversight of community supervision, and supervision of offenders released from prison on parole or mandatory supervision. The TDCJ operates the second largest state prison system in the United States.[2] In 2001 it was the largest prison system.[3]

The agency has offices in the Price Daniel, Sr. State Office Building in Austin

The department has its headquarters in Huntsville.[3][4] The department has offices at the Price Daniel Sr. Building in Downtown Austin and at Spur 59 off Highway 75 North in Huntsville.[5][6]

Contents

History

In 1848, the Texas Legislature passed "An Act to Establish a State Penitentiary", which created an oversight board to manage the treatment of convicts and administration of the penitentiaries. Land was acquired in Huntsville and Rusk for later facilities.[7]

The prison system began as a single institution, located in Huntsville. The Department was and still is the only state agency based outside the capital of Austin. A second prison facility, Rusk Penitentiary, began receiving convicts in January 1883.[7]

Various administrative changes where the organization of the managing board of the department occurred over the next one hundred years.[7] In 1989, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Board of Criminal Justice were created. The Board is composed of nine members appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate to six year overlapping terms. This new agency absorbed the functions of many state agencies.[8]

Major divisions

The department encompasses the following major divisions:

  • Correctional Institutions Division
  • Parole Division
  • Community Justice Assistance Division

Windham School District

Windham School District was created in 1969 to provide adult education in Texas prisons. The district was the first school system of its size to be established within a statewide prison system. Windham is one of the largest correctional education systems in the nation, providing educational programs and services in most Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) facilities.[9]

Fallen officers

Since the inception of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, 55 officers have died in the line of duty.[10]

Prisons operated by the Correctional Institutions Division

See List of Texas state prisons

See also

Texas portal
Law enforcement/Law enforcement topics portal


References

  1. ^ "2008 Population Estimates" (xls). US Census. http://www.census.gov/popest/states/NST-ann-est.html. Retrieved 2008-12-23. 
  2. ^ "Prisoners 2007." U.S. Department of Justice. Accessed March 21, 2009.
  3. ^ a b "Huntsville Prison Blues." National Public Radio. September 10, 2001. Retrieved on December 2, 2009.
  4. ^ "LIVINGSTON NAMED EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF STATE’S CRIMINAL JUSTICE AGENCY." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. July 28, 2005. Retrieved on December 2, 2009.
  5. ^ "Web Directory - Texas Department of Criminal Justice." Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Accessed September 13, 2008.
  6. ^ "Contact Information." Third Court of Appeals of Texas. Accessed September 13, 2008.
  7. ^ a b c "Texas Prison Board: An Inventory of Records of the Texas Prison System at the Texas State Archives, 1913-1933, 1943, undated". http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/20046/tsl-20046.html. Retrieved 2008-02-08. 
  8. ^ "An Inventory of Board of Criminal Justice Minutes and Meeting Files at the Texas State Archives, 1881-1885, 1900-2006". http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/20128/tsl-20128.html. Retrieved 2008-02-08. 
  9. ^ "Overview of Windham School District". http://www.windhamschooldistrict.org/divisions/overview.php. Retrieved 2008-02-08. 
  10. ^ The Officer Down Memorial Page

External links


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Incarceration in the United States
Federal Bureau of Prisons
Corrections by U.S. state
Federal District
US state prisons

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