Tamera Hutcherson is a Dallas-based community organizer who previously worked for the Texas Jail Project. She has written the op-ed below regarding Proposition 3, one of the 17 propositions on the Nov. 4 statewide ballot.
In early September of this year, it was reported that the Dallas County jail reached capacity, holding over 7,000 incarcerated people, despite our District Attorney John Creuzot blaming the overcrowding on an inefficient software system. Overcrowding of the Dallas County jail could worsen if Proposition 3 is passed.
Of the over 200 Texas county jails in operation, nearing capacity has been a common occurrence and ongoing issue, which has caused some county jails to outsource the incarceration of people to private prisons or out of state. Tarrant County jail had a contract with a private prison in West Texas to outsource incarceration in an attempt to resolve overcrowding. However, the contract ended in 2024 after the private prison failed its state inspection for not meeting the minimum standards set forth by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. Harris County spends over $50 million per year outsourcing incarceration to Mississippi and Louisiana due to overcrowding and understaffing…