WITNESS
Gary Johnson retired from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) in December of 2004 after serving almost 28 years in a variety of positions. He began his career as a Correctional Officer and subsequently held a number of positions including Sergeant, Compliance Officer, Assistant Warden, Senior Warden, Regional Director for the Institutional Division, Director of the Institutional Division and Executive Director of the Department, the position he held immediately prior to his retirement in December 2004.
During Mr. Johnson's tenure as Executive Director, TDCJ emerged from federal oversight that had begun 30 years earlier as a result of the landmark Ruiz case. The agency also implemented the Safe Prisons Program and other initiatives, including a focus on reentry programs that are meant to give offenders new opportunities once they rejoin the free world. In 2003, TDCJ was forced to reduce its budget by approximately $240 million dollars and eliminate more than 1,700 positions during the fiscal year 2004-2005 cycle. Johnson responded by reorganizing the agency and ordering an across-the-board review of all operations that resulted in a more streamlined and efficient way of doing business. Mr. Johnson graduated from Sam Houston State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminology and Corrections.
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STATEMENT
Quite frankly as the Executive Director of a correctional department I was very concerned about inviting external oversight from people, groups or entities with single issue and/or, and I beg your indulgence, radical agendas. I am referring here to more than just a philosophical difference of opinion on prison operations. …While valuing external oversight that might help further my objectives to operate a safe, humane and constitutional prison system, seeking or allowing oversight from groups or entities whose purpose is disconnected from these objectives or for whom reciprocal professional respect is lacking could be not only counterproductive but may also have serious unintended consequences. When governing prisons, the government must, in my opinion, balance free access to its prisons with the legitimate correctional concern of destabilizing the correctional environment.
…These are difficult issues and there is sometimes a tendency to oversimplify or dismiss the complexity of the issues by blaming or ridiculing the correctional administrator for not having the courage to make the tough decisions and do the "right thing." However, sometimes courage is confused with carelessness and the "right thing" is subject to interpretation. No doubt, there are diverse experiences and opinions among those listening to these remarks today regarding correctional oversight and operation of prisons. And after 28 years in this field and most of them spent working in prisons or overseeing prisons, correctional oversight is an issue about which I still have some conflicted thoughts. I find it much easier to discuss the issue in theory as a retired correctional administrator than to argue or defend the practical realities of oversight as an active correctional administrator. … But with those caveats, I can see the value in having an outside set of eyes provide feedback on our operations and on the conditions in our prisons. It is not the only way to ensure safe and humane prisons, but it is a piece of the solution.
Excerpted from a written statement submitted to the Commission
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Note: Some witnesses submitted documents in addition to the written statement they prepared for the hearing. In most cases, those documents are not available on the Commission's web site.
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