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Thursday, February 10, 2000
DA considers probe of prison official's claims
Office first must determine whether keeping positions vacant is a crime, Earle says
By Jeremy Schwartz
Caller-Times
Staff writer Jeremy Schwartz can be reached at 886-3779 or by e-mail at schwartzj@caller.com
Travis County's district attorney said his office will look into a state prison official's allegations that prison administrators may be deliberately understaffing prisons.
But before the office decides to investigate whether the accusations are true, it must determine whether such actions would be a crime, District Attorney Ronnie Earle said
"The safety of our correctional officers is a very serious matter," Earle said. "We will inquire into these allegations to see if an investigation is warranted."
On Tuesday, Charles Godwin, training director for the state prison system, faxed a letter to Earle and the state auditor's office requesting an investigation into the causes of a shortage of correctional officers. He said prison officials may have deliberately kept vacant positions unfilled to spend unused salary money for other purposes.
Earle did not say when a decision on whether to investigate Godwin's allegations would be made. If an investigation is launched it would be handled by the district attorney's public integrity unit, which investigates accusations of government misconduct, Earle said.
Prison system officials have called Godwin's allegations pathetic and untrue, and said all unused salary money is spent on overtime for correctional officers.
Godwin said he hopes Earle's office will follow through with an investigation. "I think it's a very positive sign that an independent body apart from the (prison system) will give this an objective review," he said. "This is very much needed."
A January report from the prison system shows 2,035 vacant positions at prisons throughout the state. If all those positions are funded at the lowest pay scale, Godwin said, they represent more than $35 million annually in unused salaries.
Godwin said he believes the staff shortage may violate the final judgment in the Ruiz case, a lawsuit filed by an inmate that led to sweeping prison reform and calls for sufficient staff to provide security, control and supervision of Texas inmates.
Last month, Godwin sent a letter to Gov. George W. Bush calling for prison director Wayne Scott's resignation and saying prison officials repeatedly ignored his warnings that the state's training program was inadequate and would lead to increased violence against correctional officers.
Godwin was summoned to a Texas Board of Criminal Justice meeting in McAllen to defend his allegations.
After presentations by Godwin and prison system administrators, the board rejected his claims.
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