N3UI11131k1 OIHRCYNMI I ----DUI V/9136-- By JAN RICH and ANNE MARIE KILDAY Houston Chronicle Austiii Bureau AUSTIN — Gov. Mark White and for- mer Gov. Bill Clements launched a bit- ter "Kr of words over a liberal "good time' policy that is shortening the terms of thousands of inmates in the • f._'. rections. Since March. state prison o have allowed convicted felons coming into the state prison system to earn inure time off their sentences for good behavior, according to a TDC memo- randum signed by Director 0. Lane McCotter. The internal document was made public Thursday as prison officials con tinued to deal with a burgeoning priso population. The TDC on Thursday was at slightly more than 94 percent capac- ity — very close to the 95 percent ca- pacity mark that can trigger the auto- But White said the policy is simply' one that was created when a Clements appointee, Robert Gunn, was chairman of the state prison board. "These poll- cies established on good time are the s,ime policies Iasi under the Clements administration %%kw said lie blamed the overcrowded prisons on elements who vetoed construction. oh proposed prison in 1979 -Kill Clements has come up with ev cry excuse he can think of to avoit responsibility lor thAt veto. We .if building new prisons now that shout( hive been under construction — anc fauslicd — ve.irs agp: ements. who RIfftring_______White pir a second term as governor. re- sponded. "That is an absolute fabrica- tion of his imagination. Ile must have been talking to the prison fairy." Clements said. it he is elected gover- nor, he will ask McCotier to resign as TDC director. partly because of the policy that allows new prisoners to gain so much good time Other state officials also were con- cerned about the policy. Sen. Ray Farabee, D-Wichita Falls, chairman of the Senate State Affairs Committee. said he will launch an in- quiry into whether the TDC policies violate state law. "We're making an inquiry concerning whether they conform to the existing statutes," Farabee said. "With the cur- rent capacity and the number of people being sent (to TDC), there is going to be a certain amount of expediting good time The question is whether it should be through the Prison Management Act, which identifies the lowest risk offenders, or through some other mech- anism." Under the Prison Management Act, prison officials are required to speed up the paroles of some inmates when the population in the state prison sys- tem reaches 95 percent of capacity. In a recent special session, the Legisla- White, Clements In war of words over TDC policy tore amended the law ,to allow tirison officials five days to deal with over- crowding before releasing inmates. In the recent amendments to the law, the Legislature also eliminated auto- matic early releases for persons con- victed of capital murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated robbery and other offenses Involving use of a deadly weapon. That change, however, won't go into effect until next year. The law, meanwhile, continues to provide for automatic re- leases to mandatory supervision of in- mates whose combined good time and actual time served equals the length of their sentences. White sai e cc. -ti use today grew out of a federal court order to improve conditions in the state prison system. In 1984 "a court-ordered prisoner classification plan was imple- mented governing the amount of good time prisoners can eatri," White said. "That is the same classification plan which governs good time today — noth- ing has changed." • But the memo signe y rcCotter reveals a change in the number of pris- oners who can obtain shortened sen- tences quickly. The ''good time" policy in effect since March applies both to violent and non-violent offenders, rais- ing their status upon entering the prison system The additional time is added to the actual time that a pris- oner serves, thus speeding his release from the prison system. Under the new policy each new pris- oner coming into the system is consid- ered a trusty — an inmate that earns more time off his sentence as a reward for his exemplary conduct. The new status also applies to those inmates re- turning to TDC for parole violations. Trusties now make up at least two- thirds of the prison population. When asked why an increasing num- ber of prisoners are being released from TDC, White responded: "The pa- role board makes those decisions " McCotter also denied any change in good time policy and pronounced him- self tired of the political wrangling over the prisons. "I just don't think the prison system should be a political football," he said. McCotter agreed that the good time policy was partly the outcome of the federal court case against the Texas Department of Corrections. But he said that the policy was changed to appease the federal court in early 1985. Before the change, well-behaved in- mates could accrue a maximum of 20 bonus days for every 30 days served. Inmates now can earn 40 bonus days for every 30 days served. Former prisot: officials also ex- pressed dismay over the issue. "Quietly an systematically, the Texas Department of Corrections has enacted a system that seeks to solve the problem of prison overcrowding by ignoring the original intent of 'good time laws and speeding the release of vast numbers of convicts," said Robert Gunn, former chairman of the state prison board. "This practice is irre- sponsible and dangerous to our law abiding public." Gunn was an appointee of Clements on the prison board and resigned in 1985 after prolonged disagreements with White. Gunn, who served from 1981 to 1985, and former board member Harry Whittington, who served from 1979 to 1985 as a Clements' appointee, both said they are supporting Clements in the Nov. 4 election. "The good conduct time law is being totally disregarded as it was meant, ' Whittington said. "Many people are getting out the day they arrive." But Gunn and Whittington conceded that state prisons have suffered under both governors. For many years, Texas has simply sent "too many people" to prison, which led to the present crisis in the state prison system, Gunn said. To help alleviate overcrowding, the state prison board on Thursday agreed to spend $18 million to $20 million on a lease/purchase plan to build 2,000 new prison beds outside the walls of Texas prisons. The new minimum-security prison camps. to be used only for prison trust- ies, are aimed at alleviating prison overcrowding to comply with the fed- eral court order. The prison board agreed to consider 'housing another 1,000 prisoners in mo- bile homes or trailers. White reserved part of his criticism for the two former prison officials. "Mr. Whittington was a member of the (prison) board when that (good time) policy was implemented," White said. 'Mr. Gunn was chairman of that board. These are their policies." Herschel Meriwether, White's associ- ate deputy for programs, said that TDC has been acting on "a formalized policy that had been in place since (former prison director) Ray Procunier became director." "The policy itself is nothing more than compliance with a classification plan required by federal court order, and with state law that was enacted in response to Clements' commission's recommendations, and to most observ- ers would appear to be sound correc- tional practice," Meriwether said. Meriwether said more inmates are placed in the "trusty" classification be- cause a new class was created as a result of Procunier's "The fact that there are more in trusty class is a result only of the fact that there is another trusty category than there was previously. That was done to provide a middle point, and to be consistent with state law and good correctional practice, which Procunier had experienced in his many years of corrections that Bob Gunn and Harry Whittington found so valuable when they attracted him here." Meriwether said.