Corrections exist to confine those who are convicted of crimes within a controlled environment. Offenders convicted of federal crimes are incarcerated in federal prisons. Individuals convicted of state crimes are held in state prisons. Texas Corrections and Federal Corrections are operated, administered and managed in similar fashions, and both suffer from overcrowding as a result of strict laws causing mass incarceration over the past two decades. Both Federal and Texas corrections are highly bureaucratic with numerous departments and divisions existing to provide for the operation and management of the facilities.
Federal correctional organization and administration is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons which was created by a federal statute in 1930. A director heads the organization and leads with a deputy director. Under the director and deputy director, there are executive offices, a program review division and then numerous divisions including administrative, health services, correctional programs, information, policy and public affairs, industries, education and vocational, reentry services and human resource management. At the bottom of the organization is the regional offices and lastly field operations. . Administration of federal corrections occurs within the administration division of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Federal corrections consist of six regions with 122 prisons which are in various states throughout the United States. The prisons have five different types of security levels. These include minimum, low, medium, high and administrative.
The Texas Board of Criminal Justice heads the correctional division in Texas. There is an executive director, a deputy executive director and director. Under these, there are three operations: prison and jails, managements and support. This division operates all of the Texas state institutions and has its headquarters in Huntsville, Texas. The Texas Corrections consists of six regions with 99 facilities. There are also thirteen private prisons within the system . Operations are provided by the Security Operations Department.
Both the Texas and the Federal Correction were inflicted with mass incarceration as a result of strict policies. The United States has more prisoners than any other country in the world, and the State of Texas incarcerates more prisoners than any other state in the Nation . The high incarceration and inability to handle overcrowding could be the result of the similar organization and administration structures in both systems.
References
Campbell, M. C. (2011). Politics, Prisons and Law Enforcement: An Examination of the Emergence of 'Law and Order' Politics in Texas. Law & Society Review, 45(3), 631-665.
Justice, T. D. (2015). Organizational Charts Correctional Institutions Division. Retrieved January 3, 2016, from http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/org_chart/org_chart_cid.html
Justice, U. D. (2015). Organization, Misson and Functions Manual: Federal Bureau of Prisons. Retrieved January 3, 2016, from http://www.justice.gov/jmd/organization-mission-and-functions-manual-federal-bureau-prisons
