Breckenridge Texan

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is transitioning about 130 beds in two dorms at the Walker Sayle Unit in Breckenridge from SAFP (Substance Abuse Felony Punishment) offenders to IPTC (In-Prison Therapeutic Community) offenders, according to a statement on Thursday by TDCJ spokesman Robert Hurst.

The maximum capacity for the Walker Sayle Unit is 632 inmates, according to the TDCJ website. However, TDCJ does not release the exact number of inmates at each unit.

IPTC participants are offenders transferred from TDCJ prison units who are required to participate in an in-house substance abuse treatment program before their release from TDCJ.

SAFP participants are probationers and parolees who are placed in the program instead of being housed in a TDCJ prison unit. Although SAFP facilities are a part of the TDCJ system, they are not classified as “prison” units. The Walker Sayle Unit is designated as a SAFP facility.

“This is something that’s been done (at Walker Sayle) before,” Hurst said during a phone interview on Friday with the Breckenridge Texan. “This is something that is done from time to time at different substance abuse felony punishment units. They will convert them over to house IPTC offenders, as well.”

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles votes on which offenders participate in the IPTC program. According to Hurst’s statement, offenders in the IPTC program are minimum custody level and have not had a major disciplinary case within the last six months. They must also complete the IPTC program before their release.

Hurst said he did not anticipate any violent offenders, such as murderers, participating in the program at the Walker Sayle Unit.

“These are people who have to complete an in-house treatment program before they are released,” he said. The program is similar to the type of program that the other inmates at Walker Sayle already go through,

Once an offender completes the program, Hurst said, they will then be qualified to be released from TDCJ and will be sent to a release facility elsewhere in Texas. The Walker Sayle Unit will not serve as the release unit for the IPTC inmates.

Hurst said because the current Walker Sayle staff is already trained for this type of program, he doesn’t expect any staff reductions or increases. Basically the Walker Sayle Unit staff will offer a different but similar type of service to some inmates, and everything as far as the operation point of view will be the same, he said.

Hurst said he doesn’t have a timetable on when the new program will begin, but said it will be in the immediate future. As for how long the IPTC program will continue at the unit, he said the number of offenders needing IPTC service will determine that. Within the next year, the Parole Board will know how many offenders will need to go through the program.

Story by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan