Unnecessary Funding for Inmates

        I completely agree with Mindy. How can anyone in their right mind support a program like this when the state of Texas tries to wobble its way towards a better financial situation. Wouldn't this college program for inmates make their sentence more of a reward than a punishment? We are forgetting why they are their in the first place, they did not get their by being good samaritans. On the contrary , they should be happy they are getting anything at all. We really should expect more from them by making them work for the food they eat, the clothes they wear, and their housing expenses, instead of paying their education. Why give them more?        I strongly agree with Mindy when she says that budget cuts should come from programs like this, not education for the students who absolutely deserve it. I am all for a second chance at life but not this way. I am not even sure offenders deserve a second chance, but if they did it would definitely not have to come at the expense of other more eligible students or the state of Texas for that matter. We should be working towards rewarding regular college students rather than inmates. If inmates truly want a second chance at life, make them work for it. It seems that the only people that are not being affected by budget cuts are inmates. If they want to better themselves they should be expected to wait at at the very back of the line instead of placing them at the very front, even ahead of hard working students. It hardly seems fair that inmates get handed an education at no cost, because like Mindy said, most of them pay little or nothing back, while regular students work two jobs to make minimum payments on their tuition. More importantly, how much can we honestly expect to get out of this college program for inmates, not much. How many of them will even be out of jail long enough to make a difference in our communities.                            Prisons and inmates are already a financial burden to the state, therefore it is reasonable to discontinue additional funding for unnecessary programs. Although I do agree that such programs reduce recidivism rate, it should not come at the expense of innocent taxpayers. It almost seems that everyone is being punished with budget cuts except the people that deserve it the most. Texas already ranks very low in education, why worsen the situation by cutting funds in this crucial area. Education is an investment, and should be a priority of the state. Cutting funds for schools is ridiculous when inmates are getting a free education with taxpayers money. 

Paying Criminals for their Crimes

     At a time when unemployment rates are sure to soar, as a result of budget cuts, criminals are getting paid to be criminals.If a school principal or teacher is forced out of work in order to make ends meet here in Texas, then certainly we cannot afford to extend wages to criminals for pulling their weight around in prison. Representative Jerry Madden  introduced an amendment to the budget that would eliminate funding for the Youth Commission, and ultimately the "student employment" program. Hundreds of government employees have already lost their jobs with no hope of relief, yet we continue to unknowingly pick up the tab for the "student employment" program with taxpayer dollars. To make matters even worse, their wages are tax-free! If the point of this program is to rehabilitate youths and bring them back into society, then why have they started crippling them with special privileges. If anything this program might get them off to a bad start.  Youths should not be allowed to think that they have to be paid for taking care of their responsibilities, their will be no colorful incentives to keep them going after they do their time. 
      The student employment program at the Texas Youth Commission allows for youths to be paid from fifty cents to two dollars an hour. Our young offenders earn their wages by contributing to the custodial, administrative, food service, and maintenance chores. This year alone the program is costing the state one hundred and sixty-seven thousand dollars. It might not seem like much right away but when you think of the hundreds of jobless , well-educated government employees, that number is suddenly magnified. The student employment program is only adding to the already high, unnecessary cost of placing a youth in one of these facilities. In 2010 the average cost per day per youth was three hundred and fifty-nine dollars. People learn from their mistakes the hard way, if not, they have no consequences to encourage positive behavior. The young offenders of Texas must learn that everything they do comes with consequences and that it takes hard work to fix their mistakes, therefore they will hopefully learn not to make the same mistake twice.