Clements a d prison fiasco By GEORGE KUEMPEL AUSTIN - Despite his claims to the contrary, Gov. Bill Clements is partly to blame for the prison crisis, which by his own admission will take years and millions in tax dollars to resolve. Since taking office in 1979, Clements, who cam- paigned hard on a law-and-order platform, has vetoed about 22 percent of the paroles recommended by the 3- . member pardons and paroles board 4-, - almost twice as many as any pre- vious governor. At the same time, the governor has pushed through the Legislature a long list of tough anti-crime laws aimed at making it easier to put law- breakers behind bars and keep them _____ there longer. At the end of the 1981 session, for example, Clem- ents, crowing about lawmakers having passed 14 of his 16 major law-and-order bills, proclaimed: "NO LEGISLATIVE session in modern history has passed more potent, far-reaching laws to combat crime and the cancerous drug traffic in our state." But in his quest to rid the state of crime, Clements failed to consider - or chose to ignore - the-fact that if more people are placed in jail and kept there longer, more cells are needed. In fact, he vetoed a $30 million appropriation for prison construction in 1979 - a decision he says he made only after clearing it first with prison officials who assured him it wouldn't cause them any problems. When U.S. Dist. Judge William Wayne Justice fi- nally interceded and ordered the state to provide each inmate at least 40 square feet of living space, Clements responded by moving prisoners into tents and pump- ing $35 million into a crash program to build barracks- type facilities to handle the overflow - a project that already is months behind schedule. It's not surprising that something had to give, and give it did 10 days ago when the board of corrections, headed by one of Clements' own appointees, T.L. Aus- tin of Dallas, under risk of a contempt citation, or- dered the doors of the state's 16 prison units closed to new inmates because of overcrowding. The board, under orders from Clements, has since rescinded the order and again is accepting inmates on a selective basis. The action, however, was obviously embarrassing 1=11111111mammirsm - to Clements, and has provided some powerful political ammunition for his Democratic opponent, Atty. Gen. Mark White, who is gleefully trying to rub Clements' nose in the mess. ___ Desperate to resolve the problem, Clements is being forced to do something he vowed would never happen - return prisoners to the streets before he felt they were satisfactorily rehabilitated. HE IS TAKING another look at the 1,200 prisoners whose recommendations for parole he has vetoed in the last eight months, and scores of other inmates al- ready have been granted early release to make room for newcomers. Clements has conceded the problem of overcrowd- ing will be around for years. When current construction projects under way are completed by Sept. 1, less than 1,200 additional cells will be available after the 4,100 prisoners now housed in tents are moved into permanent quarters. At the same time, the prison population is mush- rooming. In each of the last six months, the prisons have been receiving an average of 400 more inmates than they've been discharging - a trend that unless re- versed will mean Texas again will be facing a crisis by Christmas. In addition to providing needed new prisons and beefing up the parole staff, the Legislature should again take a look at a bill introduced in 1981 to elimi- nate the governor's veto power over paroles. Texas and only one or two other states still give their gover- nors that authority. While Clements was stoutly defending his past parole vetoes, the state's prison director, James Es- telle, told legislators about 9,000 of the state's 34,000 inmates - about 26 percent of the total prison popula- tion - could safely be returned to their homes with adequate supervision. "You let me make the decision, I'll pick you 9,000 in a hurry" that could be released, Estelle told the law- makers. Clements, meanwhile, apparently still hasn't made up his mind about whether to open the special session later this month to the prison issue. It's difficult to understand, however, how he can even consider not dealing with so severe a problem as soon as possible. George Kuempel is Austin bureau chief of The Dal- • las Morning News. T-4 ›,0 cp cl) oRI .4-4 •c:i ch u '-'? ,.... 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