DALLAS TIMES HERALD, Friday, May 1, 1981 • A--19 Senate approves $1.5 million prison work furlough program By RICHARD S. DUNHAM Austin Bureau AUSTIN — Risking a gubenatorial veto, the Senate Thursday over- whelmingly approved a $1.5 million work furlough program for Texas prisoners that allows the inmates to live at home while they work outside prison. • The proposal's author, Sen. Kent Caperton of Bryan, said his plan "is the speediest and most cost-effective way, in the short term, of addressing the tremendous overcrowding prob- lem in Texas prisons." Caperton's plan would allow pris- oners convicted for non-violent crimes and meeting other eligibility require- ments to work outside of prison and live at home. The furloughed prison- ers would bear the cost of administer- ing the measure. Gov. William P. Clements Jr. has proposed an alternative work fur- lough program that would cost about $18 million for 6,000 prisoners. Most of that expense would be required to house prisoners in secure, overnight facilities. Jim Estelle, director of the Texas Department of Corrections, endorsed Caperton's bill at a Senate hearing, but Clements has criticized the proposal. "I have said on many occasions that I am not going to agree to a work furlough program that will allow our inmates to go home," Clements said. "I know what I think is right for the state. "We are not going to have a work furlough program without adequate security," he said. "We're not going to do that and you can forget it. The people of Texas don't want it and I don't want it and it's wrong for Texas." The state is under federal court or- der to reduce overcrowding in Texas prisons. Currently, nearly 3,000 pris- oners must sleep on the floor because of a housing shortage. In December, U. S. District Judge William Wayne Justice of Tyler ruled that the state systematically violates the constitutional rights of TDC in- mates. Earlier this month, Justice is- sued a detailed order requiring a se- ries of reforms, including a work furlough program. Caperton last month attached his work furlough proposal to a $35 mil- lion appropriation for emergency pris- on construction, but the plan was scuttled in the House after Clements balked at the Senate-passed bill. "This is the only program I have seen that addresses this problem in a rapid way and a fairly responsible way," Caperton said. "We have worked hard to insure that this work furlough plan guarantees public safe- ty. The eligibility requirements are tightly drawn, the supervision of fur- loughed prisoners would be strict. The freshman Democrat said his proposal could be implemented start- ing in September, while Clements' proposal would be delayed until 1983 because of required construction. Only two senators, John Leedom, R-Dallas, and Dee Travis, R-Garland, voted against Caperton's proposal. "I'd like to pass a bill that is going to be signed," argued Travis.