Texas sees drop in state prison inmate population and increase in correctional officers

Texas’ prison guard shortage eases

AUSTIN, Texas — Hundreds of state convicts in Texas are going to be moving.

Texas prison officials say they plan to cancel contracts to house as many as 1,900 state convicts in county lockups because the number of convicts in state prisons has fallen.

State prison system spokeswoman Michelle Lyons told the Austin American-Statesman that officials plan to move the convicts now housed in county lockups back into state prisons by the end of August.

The decrease in the Texas inmate population — part of a national downtrend — also coincides with an increase in correctional officers at the state’s 112 adult prisons. Officials say more people have become guards because of pay incentives and the struggling economy.