September 2006, Laura K. Saegert, Appraisal Archivist
Agency contact
None, records are at the Archives.
Records Series Review
Series Title: Sunset self-evaluation working files of the Construction
Division
Agency holdings:
Unknown.
Project review:
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) contacted the Archives
in late August 2006 asking for a review of their building construction
project files so they could make some disposal decisions - either transfer
to the Archives or destroy the records. We had one accession of records
from this series that was waiting appraisal already in the Archives,
consisting of about 88 cubic ft. While reviewing the boxes in our stacks
I discovered a few boxes that do not belong with this series. Two are
boxes of photographs (some construction, some general TDCJ photos) that
belong with an existing series of photographs in the processed TDCJ
records. I will add these boxes of photographs to that series. There
was also a transfile of seemingly routine administrative files of the
Facilities Division - these will be appraised separately, and a transfile
of self-evaluation materials (working files) for a Sunset Commission
evaluation in the mid 1980s. This series review concerns the Sunset
Commission self-evaluation files.
Description:
These are working files of the Texas Department of Corrections Construction
Division reflecting work done by the Division in preparation for a Sunset
Commission evaluation of the agency. Records are dated about 1983-about
1986. The records consist of drafts of self-evaluation report components,
internal memos, testimony, notes, proposed area of focus, internal reports,
external reports, a presentation to the Sunset Commission, memos re:
answers to Sunset Commission questions, tasks and subtask descriptions,
work plans, excerpts from division policy and procedure manuals, a compiled
list of construction reports for the Sunset Commission, and a draft
of the Construction Division Procurement Planning System Conceptual
Design Report. Other internal reports present include the Texas Department
of Corrections 10 Year Facilities Study, Executive Summary - preliminary;
Strengthening Texas Department of Criminal Justice Management Effectiveness,
Facilities Study (1983); Construction Division Position Descriptions
and Recommendations; Construction Division Management Accounting System;
Review of Certain Architectural Contracts; Report of Environmental Health
and Safety Conditions at TDC Facilities; Remedial Actions to Reduce
Unnecessary Use of Force; and the Construction Division Comprehensive
Job Status Report (3 volume set). External reports include State of
Texas Comprehensive Criminal Justice Plan (1985); Report of Agriculture
Program of TDC (by the Texas Agriculture Experiment Station); an Analysis
of Actions on Agencies Under Sunset Review; and the two-volume Sunset
Self-Evaluation Report.
Construction projects had a significant impact during this period in
the agency's history on actions of the agency. During the mid 1980s
overcrowding was a major issue of the agency and steps were taken to
correct it, including building additions to existing facilities and
building new facilities. Other issues involving the Construction Division
during this evaluation included inmate training and work programs. These
were areas of concern by this division because it operated work-training
programs for inmates in the construction job field and also used inmates
in some construction projects as part of the inmate work programs.
Files consist of about two cubic ft.
Purpose:
Agency self-evaluation reports provide fundamental knowledge of a state
agency in a concise, standardized format. They give the Sunset Commission
members and staff a general understanding of the agency and its purpose.
The working files of the agency reflect processes undergone and resources
used to produce the self-evaluation report.
Agency program:
"An Act to Establish a State Penitentiary" was passed in 1848
by the Second Legislature. The act established a governing body of the
penitentiary as a three-member Board of Directors, appointed by the
Governor, with the approval of the Senate. The Board was responsible
for creating and distributing a set of rules and bylaws for the administration
of the penitentiary, overseeing the treatment of convicts, preparing
an annual inventory of property, and making an annual report to the
Governor. Over the years, the name and composition of the Board changed.
While its basic functions were not greatly altered, some duties were
added. These included acquiring land for the Huntsville and Rusk facilities,
purchasing machinery, effecting repairs, leasing the penitentiaries,
leasing convicts for outside labor, purchasing and/or leasing farms
for the employment of convicts, and providing for the transfer of convicts
from county jails to the penitentiary. During the 19th century the direct
management of the prison was through the inspector, later known as the
superintendent. Other officers included assistant superintendents, inspectors
of outside camps, the financial agent, and physicians. The superintendent
and financial agent had the most direct dealings with the Board and
the Governor in the management of the prison system.
The prison system began as a single institution, located in Huntsville,
known as the Huntsville Penitentiary. Convicts were put to work in various
shops and factories housed within the institution. In 1871, the legislature
directed that the penitentiary be leased to private individuals (Chapter
21, 12th Legislature, 1st Called Session). These men, known as lessees,
paid the state for the convict labor and use of facilities, and in turn,
managed the system, including clothing and feeding the convicts and
paying the guards. It was during this period that the outside camp system
was firmly established as part of the prison system. In addition to
the use of convicts in and around the prison, the convicts were hired
out to large labor employers, mainly plantation owners and railroad
companies. A second prison facility, Rusk Penitentiary, was built between
1877 and 1882. It began receiving convicts in January of 1883.
In 1881, the Legislature reorganized the prison system, abolishing
the Board of Directors, and creating in its place a Penitentiary Board,
consisting of the governor, the state treasurer, and the prison superintendent
(Chapter 49, 17th Legislature, Regular Session). In April 1883, the
administrative system was again reorganized, with the board comprised
of the governor and two commissioners appointed by the governor (Chapter
114, 18th Legislature, Regular Session). In 1885, the board composition
changed once more, now consisting of three commissioners appointed by
the governor (House Bill 562, 19th Legislature, Regular Session). This
board was succeeded by the Board of Prison Commissioners in 1910, which
was composed of three commissioners appointed by the governor (Senate
Bill 10, 31st Legislature, 4th Called Session). The legislation that
created the new board also directed the prison system to begin operating
again on state account, i.e., lessees no longer managed the prison system,
effective in January 1911. Convicts, or inmates, were housed and worked
in one of the two prisons or on one of several state prison farms. The
shop industries slowed down while the prison farms expanded. This arrangement
made it more difficult to provide education and other reform measures.
Such measures were generally practiced at Huntsville, with some teaching
extended to a couple of prison farms by the early 1900s.
The Texas Prison Board replaced the Board of Prison Commissioners as
the governing body for the Texas Prison System in 1927, increasing in
size to nine members (House Bill 59, 40th Legislature, Regular Session).
The members of the board were appointed by the governor, with senate
approval, to six year overlapping terms. The Board formulated the policies
and the manager carried them out. During the Board's tenure, 1927-1957,
the Board made changes in the system including more emphasis on prison
reform, teaching, recreation--including the establishment of the Texas
Prison Rodeo--and a new method of classifying inmates. The Texas Prison
System became the Department of Corrections in 1957 (Senate Bill 42,
55th Legislature, Regular Session). This Department was governed by
the Board of Corrections, composed of nine members appointed by the
governor with the advice and consent of the senate to six year overlapping
terms.
In 1989, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and the Board
of Criminal Justice were created (House Bill 2335, 71st Legislature,
Regular Session). The Board is composed of nine members appointed by
the governor with the advice and consent of the senate to six year overlapping
terms. The governor may not appoint more than two members who reside
in an area encompassed by the same administrative judicial region. This
new agency absorbed the functions of three agencies: the Department
of Corrections, the Board of Pardons and Paroles, and the Texas Adult
Probation Commission.
As of 2006, divisions of the Department of Criminal Justice are the
Parole Division, the Community Justice Assistance Division (former Adult
Probation Commission), Correctional Institutions Division, Correctional
Managed Health Care, Executive Services (Public Information Office and
the Research, Evaluation and Development Group), Health Services Division,
Human Resources Division, Office of the General Counsel, Office of the
Inspector General, Rehabilitation and Reentry Programs Division, State
Counsel for Offenders, Texas Correctional Office on Offenders with Medical
or Mental Impairments, Victim Services Division, Internal Audit, and
the Windham School District. Direct management of the prison system
is through an executive director, with each division headed by a director
and each individual prison unit managed by a warden.
The Facilities Division duties include facility planning, design, construction,
maintenance, and environmental quality assurance and compliance. The
Facilities Division headquarters is located in Huntsville but has maintenance
employees working at state owned and operated facilities throughout
the state. The Engineering Department provides professional engineering
and architectural support to the agency. The engineers, architects and
project administrators assigned to the Engineering Department perform
oversight, design, and construction operations as well as act as consultants
for the Maintenance Department, and any other office requiring technical
assistance. The Maintenance Department maintains all facilities owned
and operated by the TDCJ. Maintenance departments are located on each
unit operated by the Agency. Headquarters staff is responsible for assisting
in the maintenance and repair process by providing technical guidance,
training and supervision to unit maintenance staff, by organizing projects
constructed by the Maintenance Department, assisting in reducing energy
consumption and developing procedural guidance for maintenance.
(Sources: Various editions of the Guide to Texas State Agencies, the
website of the Dept. of Criminal Justice (http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/index.htm;
accessed September 7, 2006), and the records themselves.)
Arrangement:
Arranged as received, roughly by record type.
Access constraints:
None known.
Series data from agency schedule: or Suggested series from state Records
Retention Schedule:
No relevant series found on the schedule,
Appraisal decision:
Agency self-evaluation reports provide fundamental knowledge of a state
agency in a concise, standardized format. They give the Sunset Commission
members and staff a general understanding of the agency and its purpose.
The working files of the agency reflect processes undergone and resources
used to produce the self-evaluation report. However, in the series being
reviewed, we are only reviewing the working files for one division of
the agency, albeit an important division during this time period. This
lessens the archival value of the records. In our appraisal report of
the Sunset Commission in the 1990s we noted that the self-evaluation
reports are very important, but we could not count on always getting
them from the agencies so we determined that the Sunset Commission's
copies of self-evaluation reports of state agencies would be the archival
copy for that particular series. Working files has not really been addressed
before. I would be more inclined to keep these files if they reflected
work done by the entire agency. I do see some value in documenting work
done to reflect the heavy focus during this period on construction.
The self-evaluation report and the annual reports of the agency do summarize
work done by the division. The bulk of these materials are internal
reports, half of which are cataloged in our Texas Documents Collection.
We have copies the agency's self-evaluation report in the records of
the Sunset Commission and the Texas Documents Collection. I do not see
enough value in the remaining records to warrant their retention. I
do recommend any reports not cataloged in the Documents Collection be
added to either the Documents Collection or the reports series of the
overall TDCJ finding aid, whichever is most appropriate.
These records were appraised as non-archival. A few of the reports
will be maintain either in the Documents Collection or added to the
TDCJ reports series in the finding aid.
return to top
