It Tbe ,ropie a in,cre /lei/ea-mm.(2i? p.o. box 744, batting, taag 75765 February 4, 1988 The Honorable William Clements Governor of Texas State Capitol P.O. Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711 Dear Governor Clements: FEB o 9 88 This letter is sent to express our appreciation and admiration for your leadership skills as demonstrated by your decision to declare a prison emergency in order to transfer the necessary funds to build the Amarillo prison facility. Those of us concerned by the prison capacity crises are grateful for your action. In 1986 "We the People" were appalled to learn that during fiscal year 1985 approximatly 3,300 inmates had been paroled and approx- imatly 12,000 inmates had been madatorialy released. Although our understanding of the dire situation faced by the State has grown, we were once again appalled and extremely disturbed by the release figures for fiscal year 1987; approximatly 20,000 inmates were released to parole and approximatly 22,000 were released to mandatory supervision. As of August 31st, 1987 there were 46,821 parolees and mandatory supervision releasees under the supervision of the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. During the fiscal year 1987, 11,376 paroles and mandatory super- vision releases were revoked. These revocations represent un- told lost and destroyed lives not to mention a loss of countless dollars from the Texas economy. The state of Texas cannot tolerate a continued assault of this magnitude. We must continue to push for adequate prison capacity. The additional capacity legislated during the 70th Session will not alleviate this crises. "We the People" continue our call for a special session to address the prison crises. We realize a special session would be inconvenient, costly, and certainly unpopular with our legislators, however, when compared to the inconvenience experienced by the ever growing numbers of crime victims and the cost to the economy of Texas we can see no other solution. Again, we deeply appreciate your firm action on behalf of the Amarillo Facility and we thank you for your continued commitment and dedication to ending the tragic state of our correctional system. The cost to Texas is too great for us to hesitate any longer to restore integrity and rationality to our correctional system. Judy Wilbanks