GAWTP Endorses Jail Plan
Posted/updated on: April 29, 2011 at 1:33 pm
TYLER — The citizen group Grassroots America – We the People (GAWTP) endorses the Smith County jail bond proposal on the May 14 ballot. According to a statement from the group, the sheriff and commissioners court have more than adequately demonstrated the need for the jail beds to be added under the plan. The group also says the sheriff and commissioners court have done a good job communicating the details of the plan well in advance of early voting, which starts Monday.
Among the key points made by GAWTP in its statement:
“Smith County has been under a remedial order since 2004 from the Texas Commission on Jail Standards for non-compliance due to overcrowding. Smith County has tried on three different occasions to get in compliance with jail plans that included much higher bed counts to meet long-range 10 – 20 year projections, but the voters have said ‘No’ because the plans were too expensive or included court facilities that drove up the costs. Now is the opportunity, at a reasonable cost, to remove the remedial order for a jail – not a courthouse – with approval of the $35 million jail bond proposal.
“We well understand the economic challenges made worse by out-of-control government spending that piles up debt. Our members are actively at work on those issues; however, this jail project is not about ‘wants.’ It is about a ‘need’ to house inmates locally at the lowest possible price and to stop spending millions of dollars in other counties. It is about saving tax dollars on lower medical costs for inmates and lower transportation costs by having our inmates housed locally next to the courts. Most importantly, this jail plan is about assuming responsibility for the safety of the men and women who wear the law enforcement uniform and are now having to manage inmates in unsafe conditions.”
GAWTP defines itself as a non-profit, non-partisan, conservative group of citizen activists. The only announced opposition to the jail plan comes from the Tyler Tea Party. That group cites several reasons including a perceived lack of transparency, timing, and issues regarding the arguments used to support the plan.
