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I've heard about prisons in Texas that have a staffing shortage. I know of one in the panhandle that had to shut down half the prison because too few guards were available to work. And our state government continues to push their desire to build more prisons even though they struggle to keep the 137 prisons they currently operate up and running. If you ask me, I think part of the problem is an overzealous justice system that floods our prisons with too may people that would be better off on probation. But no one is asking me.

Until today I haven't felt the effects of staff shortage for myself. The prisons where I've been housed may have been lacking laborers but, if they were, I didn't know about it or see the effects. Today I had my first taste of the results of under staffing.

When the second shift came on at 2:00, they said that there would not be any rec unless the first shift's guards could be persuaded to stay. There was no one to supervise us if we did go to rec. What I want to know is how this unit can be understaffed to the point of withholding rec if it opened only four months ago, and why it was opened at all if under staffing was imminent.

This is a broken system. I hope people recognize that fact and are working to repair it. This state, and it's citizens, deserve better.

( According to a report on prison growth by the Urban Institutes’ Justice Policy Center, the growth in number of prisons in Texas equates to an extraordinary average annual increase of 5.7 additional prisons per year over the 21-year period. Of the top 10 states ranked from the highest growth to the lowest growth, Texas is again the clear leader growing by 706 percent over the 21-year period. Indeed, Texas is in a league of its own, as it added the most prisons (120), currently has the largest number of prisons in operation (137), and experienced the largest percentage increase (706 percent). See Prisons, Jails and Probation - Overview.)