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Texas Department of Criminal Justice
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is a department of the government of the state of Texas. The TDCJ is responsible for statewide criminal justice, including managing offenders in state prisons, state jails and private correctional facilities, funding and certain oversight of community supervision, and supervision of offenders released from prison on parole or mandatory supervision.
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In 1848, the Texas Legislature passed "An Act to Establish a State Penitentiary", which created an oversight board to manage the treatment of convicts and administration of the penitentiaries. Land was acquired in Huntsville and Rusk for later facilities.
The prison system began as a single institution, located in Huntsville, Texas. The Department was and still is the only state agency based outside the capital of Austin. A second prison facility, Rusk Penitentiary, began receiving convicts in January of 1883.
Various administrative changes regarding the organization of the managing board of the department occurred over the next one hundred years. In 1989, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Board of Criminal Justice were created. The Board is composed of nine members appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the senate to six year overlapping terms. This new agency absorbed the functions of many state agencies.
The department encompasses the following major divisions:
- Correctional Institutions Division
- Parole Division
- Community Justice Assistance Division
Windham School District was created in 1969 to provide adult education in Texas prisons. The district was the first school system of its size to be established within a statewide prison system. Windham is one of the largest correctional education systems in the nation, providing educational programs and services in most Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) facilities.