By Aileen B. Flores
El Paso Times
EL PASO, Texas -- County Commissioners Court on Monday is expected receive a report on an inmate recidivism assessment recently done at the El Paso jail system by the Council of State Government Justice Center.
The CSG Justice Center, a national non-profit organization that provides nonpartisan advice and evidence based strategies to local, state and federal government organizations, worked with county officials and Emergence Health Network to gather information and develop the study. The goal of the study is to help improve the efficiency in processing people in and out of jail.
“The study is an important tool for the Commissioners Court and taxpayers to understand how many individuals re-enter our local jail system multiple times,” Commissioner Vince Perez said.
Perez said the county spends $70 million a year jailing people, many of whom are homeless, have a mental problem, or suffer some kind of addiction.
“It’s ultimately cheaper and produces better outcomes to provide the proper treatment for these individuals than to jail them at taxpayers expense. This study will help lay the foundation to lessen our reliance on jails and improve services that treat the root of the problem,” Perez said.
The county paid the organization $53,000 to be included in the study.
The study compiled information of the people who was arrested, released from jail and re-arrested from 2011 to 2013 in the largest counties in Texas. The participant counties were El Paso, Dallas, Harris, Bexar and Tarrant.
County officials have said that because every county in Texas has a different definition of recidivism, the information from the CSG Justice Center will help create a single standard for county officials to understand their own jail system and compare it to other county jails across Texas.
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