A Catastrophe by John Armstrong, Bridgeport, TX Many have asked the question, “Why are prisons growing so fast?” The answer to that question comes in more than one way. In the 90s, when prisons overtook education in the amount of money consumed, the red flag was flying high. Another factor is the nature in which amendments to bills can be added by our law writers. A senator or congressman can have an amendment about Federal Penal spending in the fine print of an agriculture bill. So the loopholes have looped all of us around our necks in more than one way. Over 2.5 million people in this country – men, women, and children – are locked up, on parole, probation, or some kind of community service. When oppressive laws are passed locking people up for cannabis use and then the lawmakers and law enforcers wine and dine with the likes of Dow Chemical and Meyer who produce enough poison to kill everyone, who really knows how many times over. Voters need to act to stop such things, which his why I’m writing this: to get the ignorant aware. Another area where I would like to make tax paying voters aware is the inept management of Texas prisons, not just by TDCJ, but the private agencies as well: CCA and GEO! I’ve currently been in a GEO prison for three months now, and the way they waste money is criminal. These are some of my ideas on how to turn it all around: Eliminate the positions of property officer and gym officer. Use the money that would have been used to pay the property officers’ wages and a gym officer’s wages to issue every offender a hot pot, night light, radio, headphones, typewriter, electric razor, and gym equipment. Do away with parole and award good time on a merit based system. Use the money saved from doing away with parole to make a total closed loop Internet on every unit with wireless access. Have daily updates of information and software on the units’ web – mainly educational, career, and entertainment info and software. Texas and only a few other states still do not pay their offenders so the cutting of parole and the lowering of administrative position pay will make that possible. Build a 10,000 sq. ft. commissary warehouse for each individual unit and a five-story education building covering 10,000 sq. ft. at every floor. World-changing technologies need oil refinery techniques to bring down anything that is carbon based into separate individual fuels: gasoline, natural gas, ether, etc. Two very practical places to build fuel refinery operations are on landfills and prisons; also, any manufacturing place that generates a lot of waste. Part of the profit from the sale of these fuels would go for the local community: civil servant raises, victim funds, legal schools, nursing homes, hospitals, MHMRs, etc. Furthermore, each unit needs six to eight 3,000 sq. ft. greenhouses to raise some of their own food supply and to supply other units in another region of the state plus to sell 25% to 35% of what is grown. Diesel will be produced from refinery production and greenhouse production, which comes from hybrid pinecone trees. Have four-tiered, totally self-contained power supply systems: 1) solar panels, 2) wind turbines, 3) geothermal, 4) diesel generation. Put excess energy produced into deep cell batteries made and sold by the facility. The pay scale will be as such: pay will start at half of state mandated minimum wage, then progress 25 cents an hour for every degree obtained – institutional, correspondence, and vocational. All taxes will be handled electronically by the top three tax services. No limit on phone calls, which must be done 5AM to 11PM, seven days a week. Visits 9AM to 9PM, seven days a week. Lock box in every pod dayroom consisting of cable attached length restricted cutting knives, screwdrivers, wrenches, plus plastic cutting sheets that are disposable panels. Two microwaves in every room. All major name brands on commissary. Two-man cells converted to individual cells with 17 inch flat LCD foil and TV screen with over 200 channels made available to every screen. Mini refrigerator in every cell, plus laptop computer hooked into the facility closed loop web. During lockdowns, all offenders’ property stays in the cell. Each cell is searched by an officer. An offender must get some kind of degree before the can get a raise. It doesn’t matter where it’s from or what field it’s in, as long as it’s a degree where all of the requirements to pass have been met. The greenhouses, equipment, maintenance, and four-tier power supply system equipment and maintenance will be paid for by educational grants. The typical 1,300 man TDCJ ID unit educational provider on average doesn’t use 3.5 million dollars worth of Federal and State grants. Lobby to get business taxes to flat 10% rate. Yearly pay raises for teachers $75.00; staff $50.00; offenders 5 cents. It goes by salary base for teachers and prison staff, hourly pay base for offenders. Prison staff will be sought for on colleges and universities, plus ex-military. Full health benefits with full life, home, car, boat, motorcycles, and health insurance packages. Roll over benefit accounts from previous job, matching fund contribution to charity that’s tax deductible and union membership. Will have an all male staff when taken to civil court over this, back up claim with solid research showing how women create security problems by having very impressionable personalities. Movie rental through closed loop web. The profits will be used to pay for software and hardware upgrades. A consumer tax of 15% on all commissary items will be used to pay for gym equipment and flat screen LCD 32 inch dayroom TVs, and also for wireless volume headphones and wireless headphone volume transmitters. Staff is given points for informally resolving issues with offenders and docked in pay for writing cases to pay for the case itself. The points earned get a variety of benefits: extra reps in health competitions, then points for every extra dollar in holiday bonus, or ten pints for every extra dollar of insurance, 401K, 529s or Roth IRAs. Investment packages offered to teachers, staff, and offenders. On security, small lipstick cameras covering every angle inside and out of the facility. Biometerics to identify offenders, teachers, and staff. Automatic and nominally operated crash doors and gates. Closed loop server system with all necessary filtration equipment. All staff and offenders will be trained in the use of equipment and the power supply tiers, greenhouse, and refinery equipment and computers. Staff will cycle annually from department to department: education, commissary, kitchen, medical, laundry, landscaping, PST, GH, FR, computers, and DCBD. Each offender will be released from the facility that they are currently at. In fact, within two years of release, the offender can start paying on a car or try to buy or lease it. Also, clothes can be reserved and placed in the auto. Offenders can send his or her own care packets home also. The kitchen department will have 24/7 365 bakers who will bake cookies, pastries, and other desserts to be sold by the prison. The prison will take catering orders anytime.