Austin American-Statesman Friday, October 24 1986 In the White denies easing of prison release rules Governor,' Clements trade blame for overcrowding By Bruce Hight /0/246.6 American-Statesman Staff • The state's overcrowded prison system dominated the gubernato- rial campaign Thursday as Demo- : cratic Gov. Mark White denied that prison officials in the past year qui- etly began manipulating the state's "good-time" law in order to speed ; up the release of prisoners. "These allegations are absolutely false," White said at a brief press conference. : White said prison officials are us- lag the same "good-time" time plan implemented in 1984 as part of a settlement of a federal suit attack- ing overcrowded prison conditions. ;. The governor repeated his ,f charge that his Republican oppo- 1, neat, former Gov. Bill Clements, I: was responsible for the overcrowd- ; ing problem because of Clements' 1979 veto of a proposed prison. Clements said, "That is an abso- . lute fabrication of his imagination, and he must have been talking to 0. the prison fairy." • The former governor said White, ; since taking office in January 1983, "has had a very liberal, tolerant view with respect to paroles and ; what needed to be done in that re- gard, there isn't any question about it." The newest round of finger-point- ▪ lag over the prison system erupted ; with publication of a copyrighted story in the Dallas Times Herald that said prison officials in the past year quietly instituted a more le- nient policy for granting "good time" to prisoners in order to re- lease them sooner. The newspaper quoted from in- ternal memorandums it said were written by prison officials in August 1985 and March 1986. Lane McCotter, director of the Texas Department of Corrections, said at a prison board meeting Thursday that "there is no new good-time policy at TDC." pob Gunn and Harry Whittington, former members of the prison board who were appointed by Clements and served until last year, also charged that prison officials were arranging for quicker release of prisoners. The two men spoke at a Capitol press conference ar- ranged by the Clements campaign. Whittington, of Austin, said the law governing the awarding of "good time" is being "totally disre- garded" by prison officials. The re- stilt, he said, is many prisoners "are getting out the day they arrive." Gunn, former chairman of the prison board, said White's approach to the overcrowding problem was to "open the back door just as wide as the front door is opened." But White said the prison system was using "identically the policy that was set up under Mr. Gunn and Mr. Whittington." White said he was trying to build more prisons and pointed to prison board approval Thursday of a lease-purchase plan to build ten 206-bed trusty camps for prisoners and to consider ace of metal build- ings to erect a 1,000-bed unit. "I'm unhappy with people who are getting out too early," White said. "But we can't get away from whose fault it was. If Bill Clements hadn't vetoed that prison in 1979, we could have been buikiiiig addi- tional facilities in 1981 and 1982, just as we've done under my admin- istration," the governor said. When a reporter questioned whether a veto made seven years ago was responsible for today's overcrowding. White shot back, "Once you get behiod the curve, you never catch up." Clements said that, if he is elect- ed, he will seek to repteee the our- rent members of the prison board and McCotter. He also said that, If elected, he would seek a constitutional amend- ment restoring to the governor a role in the parole process. He criti- cized White for not blocking a con- stitutional amendment in 1983 that eliminated the governor's role in paroles. In other campaign news Thurs- day, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Malcolm Baldridge joined Clem- ents at his press conference to say that Texas would enjoy better rela- tions with the Reagan administra- tion if Clements were elected.