TDCJ News

TBCJ Approves Agency's 2025 Operating Budget, Legislative Appropriations Request for 2026-27 Biennium

August 23, 2024

On August 23, the Texas Board of Criminal Justice unanimously approved the agency’s FY 2025 Operating Budget as well as the upcoming appropriations request the agency will submit to the legislature for the FY 2026-27 biennium.

As detailed in the below summary, the Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) includes the agency’s base request and exceptional items. These exceptional item requests would provide funding for critical areas across the entire criminal justice system, and includes, but is not limited to:

employee retention initiatives, including pay raises for parole officers and correctional staff and expansion of wellness and mental health resources
maintaining and expanding community supervision and treatment programs
critical upgrades to infrastructure, vehicles, and security equipment
efforts to address our increasing inmate population

Described below are exceptional items for the construction of 12 expansion dorms and for major repairs and restoration, which includes $118 million for the installation of air conditioning. These items will provide over 16,000 additional air-conditioned beds to the system. With the air conditioning projects currently underway, and if funding is received for these two items, the resulting number of air-conditioned beds will reach over 78,000, or over 50% of our beds in the agency.

As we head towards the next legislative session, the agency will work over the next several months to convey the importance of this funding to lawmakers by highlighting the hard work and dedication of our officers and staff, the vital role our programming plays in the success of those incarcerated and formerly incarcerated, and our commitment to public safety and sound correctional management.

FY 2026-27 Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR)

The budget request for the FY 2026-27 biennium was developed in a manner consistent with instructions from State leadership, which directs agencies’ baseline request for the 2026-27 biennium not to exceed the FY 2024-25 general revenue-related funding levels.

TDCJ’s LAR also includes funding requests above the baseline budget for exceptional items of policy and/or operational significance. A considerable portion of this request for additional appropriations deals directly with basic operational issues related to critical staffing requirements, infrastructure needs, and inmate health care. Several of the requested items are one-time expenses. Each exceptional item is fundamentally important to the operations of the agency and included in the list below.

One of the core focuses of the agency continues to be the supervision of individuals released to supervision in communities which supports the agency’s primary mission of providing public safety. Parole Officer attrition was over 33% for FY 2023. A substantial and comprehensive Parole Officer salary increase will continue to address recruitment and retention of these critical agency positions. The Parole Officers would receive a 15% increase, with the starting salary increasing from $47,704 to $54,860. Ranking Parole Officers would also receive similar salary increases.
Correctional Officer staffing remains one of TDCJ’s most significant operational issues. To address the recruitment and retention of these critical agency positions, a substantial Correctional Officer salary increase (15%) was implemented in April 2022. Vacant Correctional Officer positions went from 8,043 in February 2022 to 5,779 in June 2024. To date, this pay raise has had the most significant impact on Correctional Officer staffing levels compared to any other hiring initiative. To continue this improvement in staffing levels, this request will provide for a 10% pay raise for all correctional staff.
On average, our agency is 18% below the mid-range salaries of similar job classifications at other state agencies. This fact, compounded with increased telework employment opportunities outside the agency, has reduced the agency’s ability to attract and retain employees critical to core agency functions. This request would provide funding for salary adjustments in order to address staffing shortages and increase competitiveness in key operational areas.
Retaining staff is a primary goal and focus of leadership as we continue to work through staffing challenges caused by a correctional environment. This exceptional item is a multi-faceted approach to address employee retention and well-being, which is critically important to serving the mission of the agency. This item includes funding for employees to access mental health professionals and an application for employees and their families that provides wellness and mental health resources. This item will guide employees through the aftermath of critical incidents and provide the means to increase the availability and frequency of wellness training across the agency. Another focus of this item includes the expansion of training, which will enhance the agency’s capacity to provide opportunities for employees to engage in a learning setting to better prepare them to carry out their critical job functions. This item will also provide funding for upgraded uniforms that will boost employee morale and professionalism. Combined, these individual efforts are a consolidated approach to change the culture and future of the agency.
In coordination with the Community Supervision and Corrections Departments (CSCDs), this funding request includes $51.9 million to provide a 10% pay increase for community supervision officers, community corrections officers and their respective supervisors to enhance recruiting and retention efforts for these critical positions. This request also includes $16.2 million to provide CSCDs with additional misdemeanor funding based on one year of supervision. Currently, CSCDs receive funding for up to 182 days for misdemeanor cases, however the average length of supervision is 1.29 years. Additional funding for CSCD operated community corrections facilities and nonresidential counseling and treatment services for substance use, mental health and sex offender counseling ($46.5 million) is necessary to support existing services, which contend with rising operational costs. Without this funding, the estimated reduction of services includes approximately 574 residential beds and over 8,000 fewer probationers served. Also included in this request is an additional $3.0 million and a transfer of existing pretrial funding to Basic Supervision to allow all pretrial diversion cases supervised by CSCDs to be funded at the misdemeanor and felony rates for cases currently under supervision.
Requested funding of $12.0 million for the Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with Medical or Mental Impairments (TCOOMMI) includes $5.9 million for contracted local mental health authorities to meet existing service delivery needs. This funding would provide for 15 caseloads to serve approximately 890 clients within continuity of care, transitional case management, and intensive case management that were reduced in the current biennium due to increased costs. Funding of $6.1 million is requested to add an additional 180 Dual Diagnosis Residential Facility beds with post-release community-based services to meet the transitional care needs of probationers.
The agency has several long-term contracts with private vendors for treatment services and the operations of several secure facilities, to include privately operated prisons, state jails, intermediate sanction facilities, and residential reentry centers. These contracts have escalation clauses of approximately 2%-3% per year, however several of these contracts have reached the end of their life cycle and have been rebid. The current market rates will require an additional $65.8 million over the biennium to continue the services provided by these contracts. Without this funding, approximately 1,900 contracted beds and 1,000 treatment slots would be eliminated.
The agency continues to experience cost increases related to the day-to-day preventative and corrective maintenance needs of our prison facilities. The implementation of new initiatives has also added to these maintenance needs. Significant progress has been made in repairing or installing fire alarm systems in each facility. These systems require annual inspections and certifications. The agency also continues to install new air conditioning systems, which have ongoing maintenance requirements. The requested $39.1 million will provide the funding needed to address the routine maintenance needs of our prison facilities.
The agency maintains an existing physical plant, numbering over 100 correctional facilities statewide, with many of these facilities over 75 years old. The size, scope and complexity of our physical plant requires substantial ongoing major repair and restoration. Identified through condition assessments as well as major work requests prepared by operational staff, the FY 2026-27 request represents only a portion of the agency’s infrastructure repair and restoration needs. We are continuously prioritizing these projects based on security and safety requirements. This request would fund projects identified in the agency’s FY 2026-27 Capital Expenditure Plan. Projects include: roof repairs, security fencing, air conditioning and lighting, electrical renovations, water/wastewater improvements, and other major infrastructure repairs.
The agency has made considerable progress replacing aging capital equipment throughout our system with the funding provided by the 88th Legislature for capital equipment replacements. This request of $54.4 million would replace aging and obsolete agricultural, laundry/food service, security and warehousing equipment and provide a more modern work environment for inmates through upgrading equipment to standards seen in the industries.
The agency's fleet currently consists of approximately 2,500 vehicles, utilized primarily for inmate transportation, freight transportation, agricultural operations, and facilities maintenance activities. The aging fleet requires increased maintenance costs, impacting the cost associated with transporting inmates and basic necessity items such as clothing and food. Reliability of the fleet is a significant component of providing public safety when transporting inmates. Inmate transportation buses have a ten-year, 300,000-mile replacement criteria. This request would replace those vehicles that exceed replacement criteria.
The TDCJ continues to implement modern technology solutions in the corrections environment. Technology solutions and the availability of technology devices on TDCJ correctional facilities have risen over 400% in the past four years. The agency has implemented impactful technology such as inmate tablets, video visitation, and technology-assisted treatment programs. With this growth in technology, by FY 2026 the agency will be operating with a ratio of information technology staff to users (employees only) of 1 to 87. Similar state agency studies show a staffing ratio of 1 to 19. This request will add 74 positions for key operational areas, such as vendor and project management, enterprise solutions, information security, infrastructure and customer service.
The agency is undergoing the implementation of the Centralized Accounting, Payroll and Personnel System (CAPPS) in coordination with the Comptroller. Full implementation of the system is expected by FY 2026. Through this process, it has become evident that the agency will need several solutions to maintain necessary functionality of current business processes. This request will provide funding for software solutions that will integrate with CAPPS for these critical business processes. Also included in this item is funding for community workstations to be placed on correctional facilities and provide computer access for correctional staff.
The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has a Crime Management System that was established many years ago. Although this system has been a worthy tool to manage investigations performed by OIG, this system has become obsolete based on federal and state standards, as well as current operational requirements. This request would provide funding to implement a new Crime Management System to enhance and modernize the investigative capabilities required by today’s ever-changing landscape.
While the agency has comprehensive video surveillance systems at 23 facilities, most of our other facilities utilize analog video surveillance cameras for security purposes. These cameras, totaling over 4,700, use technology which is obsolete and difficult to maintain. This request of $29.1 million would replace these systems and legacy cabling with modern digital video systems.
TDCJ supports many telephone switches across the state. Of these, 95 reached end-of-life in 2014, 75 reached end-of-life in 2018 and eight will reach end of life in 2026. These legacy telephone switches rely on copper telephone circuits, which providers no longer support and have begun decommissioning to move to fiber. The current manufacturer of our supported telephone switches has recently announced that it is pulling out of the United States at the end of 2024. After this time, TDCJ will no longer be able to upgrade or expand existing telephone switches. It has become critical to replace this aging technology and move forward with a manufacturer that can modernize our telephone network. This request would begin a four-year replacement cycle for 178 of these telephone systems supporting over 27,000 phones with up-to-date technology.
The agency has an aging network cabling infrastructure that has hampered modernization efforts. While the agency has worked diligently to bring modern broadband services to correctional facilities, aging legacy infrastructure inhibits the ability to bring high-speed internet throughout the facilities. Many of the current and future technology solutions that the agency will require depends on a modern network backbone that meets current standards. With legacy cabling still heavily in use across many correctional facilities, slow network performance and traffic bottlenecks occur frequently. Statewide broadband cabling expansion would address this issue and provide the agency the infrastructure necessary to implement new technologies.
The 88th Legislature provided funding to deploy body-worn cameras to correctional staff working on 23 maximum security facilities throughout the state. The agency is requesting to further this initiative by expanding this program to all of our correctional facilities. The requested funding of $85.4 million would provide an estimated 18,000 body-worn cameras for correctional staff statewide and the support necessary for continued statewide implementation.
Electronic control devices, also known as tasers, are intended to de-escalate potentially violent situations. These electronic control devices, combined with the use of body worn cameras, would provide safety and security for correctional officers and inmates. The requested funding would provide an estimated 2,000 devices for use by sergeants on correctional facilities for an estimated cost of $7.8 million.
This request proposes to construct a new employee dormitory, or Bachelor Officers’ Quarters (BOQ), at the Clements Unit in Amarillo, Texas. Estimated at $6.6 million, this building will be approximately 13,000 square feet and will be able to house 80 employees in a double occupancy suite arrangement. This dormitory would provide an additional resource for the Clements Unit to attract and retain staff.
The Legislative Budget Board’s projections published in February 2023 indicated that the TDCJ’s population was estimated to average 124,487 in FY 2023, increasing gradually to 134,463 by FY 2027. TDCJ is already well ahead of projections for FY 2024 and is currently taking steps to accommodate this population growth by re-opening facilities that have been closed (Garza East, Bartlett and Gurney units) and increasing bed capacity at existing facilities. This request will provide the funding necessary to operate the re-opened units and increased capacity needs in the FY 2026-27 biennium.
To accommodate the most recent Legislative Budget Board’s most recent population projection, the TDCJ is proposing to construct expansion dorms on existing facilities in areas where there is a strong labor pool. A total of 12 buildings would be constructed at nine locations, increasing capacity by approximately 4,800 beds. It is estimated that these buildings would take 27 months to construct at $20 million each, or $240 million in total. The new buildings would house approximately 400 inmates each and meet all building codes.
According to university providers, additional funding of $404.5 million is necessary to ensure effective overall quality of health care within the system and deliver the level of services required. Of this amount, an estimated $104.7 million is required to bring the FY 2026-27 funding to the projected levels of expense incurred to maintain the delivery of services. Additionally, the university providers are seeking to replace aging capital equipment throughout the system, such as radiology and pharmacy automation equipment; with estimated cost totaling $9.8 million. Included in this request is funding for additional staff positions. The UTMB is requesting eight additional pharmacy positions to keep up with service demands and 35 dental positions to expand the ability to provide dental prosthetics and to better meet the needs of the dental program. The TTUHSC is requesting four additional dental positions to expand the dental prosthetics program and one additional mental health position for a Self-Harm Prevention Office at the Robertson Unit. The TTUHSC is also requesting $11.3 million to provide 5% market adjustments to assist in recruitment and retention. The UTMB requests $9.7 million for 50 positions to create a division for employee retention, education, and professional development. Additionally, the UTMB is also requesting $259.2 million to address critical repair and restoration at Hospital Galveston.

We recognize that the state’s leadership will be required to make many difficult funding decisions during the upcoming legislative session and appreciate the hard work of the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and the Legislature and their recognition of the valuable service performed by the employees of this agency. We are greatly appreciative of the recent round of pay raises, which have had a positive impact on the recruitment and retention of critical staff. We would support the consideration of additional pay raises to state employees for their continued hard work and dedication to the State of Texas.

We share a commitment to public safety and sound correctional management and are confident that the critical funding requirements within the criminal justice system will be met.

Bryan Collier
Executive Director

Summary of TDCJ’s FY 2026-27 LAR Exceptional Items (PDF)
FY 2026-27 Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) Summary Document (PDF)