White: Revamping prisons coul cost Texas 3 billion By RICHARD RICHARD S. DU A Austin Bureau AUSTIN — U.S. Dist. Judge ham Wayne Justice's sweeping order to revamp the Texas prison system could cost state taxpayers about $3 billion for construction of new pris- ons, Atty. Gen. Mark White says. Hours af er Justice issued a 26-page order restructuring the Texas Depart- ment of Corrections, White said the state would ask the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans to delay the implementation of Justice's order "as quickly as it (a request) can be prepared." "I think he has exceeded his au- thority," White said. Gov. William P. Clements Jr., who is scheduled to meet with Atty. Gen. William French Smith this afternoon to discuss the matter, said he was "disappointed" Justice denied a re- quest by state and Justice Department See PRISONS on Page 9 Clements, White promise appeal PRISONS — From Page One officials to delay the final ruling for 30 days while the two sides tried to reach an agreement in the nine-year- old case. "I had hoped for more consider- ation by the court of our good faith efforts to reopen settlement negotia- tions," Clements said. "The judge ig-, nored our attempt to reach a reason- able compromise, but I suppose that should come as no surprise." Clements and White both said the judge's order would be appealed. In his detailed ruling, released in Houston, JuStice: "Required Texas prisons to house no more than two inmates per cell by Aug. 1, 1981, and no more than one inmate per cell by Nov. 1, 1983. "Mandated a work furlough pro- gram for at least 300 prisoners by Nov. 1 and at least 2,500 inmates by Nov. 1, 1982. "Ordered a review of "good time" policies and an expansion of commu- nity corrections facilities and halfway houses. "Mandated the state reduce its prisoner-to-staff ratio to 10 inmates per stiff member by Nov. 1 and 6-to- 1 by Nov. 1, 1982. "Required the state to reorganize the prison system into administrative units of no more than 500 inmates each. "Directed that all future prisons be built within 50 miles of cities with a population of 200,000 or more. The Tyler judge also appointed a special "master," Vincent M. Nathan of Toledo, Ohio, to oversee the imple- mentation of his order. Nathan has acted in a similar capacity in Ohio, Georgia and New Mexico. In December, Justice issued a scath- ing denunciation of conditions in the Texas Department of Corrections, saying the state systematically violat- ed the civil rights of prison inmates. He cited a number of particular defi- ciencies, including overcrowding, bru- tality, inadequate health conditions and unfair disciplinary procedures. -The court has, in effect, judicially redesigned the whole Texas Depart- ment of Corrections," White said. "It's unprecedented in the sense they tell people where to build prisons and how big to build them and near what towns to build them... He goes fur- ther than what I think reasonableness dictates." Justice, in a separate order denying the state's request for a delay in the case, admitted he "ventures into pre- viously uncharted (legal) territory" in part of his decision. But the judge cited a need -to quickly alleviate the massive and iniq- uitous overcrowding which daily in- jures TDC inmates." White was particularly critical of the cost of implementing Justice's ruling. -Estimates that I have heard con- cerning the building program alone (for construction of new prisons) would run somewhere in the neigh- borhood of $3 billion," White said. "Hopefully we will. be successful on appeal and the taxpayer won't be forced to support this type of pro- gram. I think it's clearly an excess on tl-ie part of the court and I am very confident of our ability to succeed on appeal." TDC spokesman Rick Hartley said Justice's single-cell order "would cer- tainly be a very costly procedure to the taxpayers of Texas." Hartley was reluctant to discuss the court-appointed prison master. "We never try to second-guess the court," he said. "The judge can do whatever he wants. "There are some areas (of the deci- sion) that will be reviewed very close- ly," he said. "Until we make such a review it would be pretty premature at this point to comment." White said he held a "very conge- nial" two-hour meeting Monday with Nathan, who is a Tyler native. "Frankly, my first impressions of the fellow were very favorable," White said. "The things that he said and the attitudes that he had I think were very positive. The (state's) ob- jection would run more to the nature of the need for the appointment." Clements, who is in Washington this week to consult with high-rank- ing members of the Reagan adminis- tration, Said he hopes White "is mov- ing full speed with the appeal process." "I remain convinced that our De- partment of Corrections is one of the finest in the country and I am confi- dent that we will prevail in the high- er courts," Clements commented. White said there is "a very good possibility" that Clements' negotia- tions with the Justice Department might contribute to a compromise agreement.