A Moral Issue

During FY 2005, state jail inmates from Harris County comprised 32% (8,496) of the total (26,352) state jail admissions, and drug offenders represented the majority (44%). It is estimated that 3,738 state jail admissions were from Harris County for drug offenses (Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Fiscal Year 2005, Statistical Report.

Sending people to state jail for simple drug possession is a self-defeating and destructive policy. It only interrupts a cycle of substance abuse and re-arrest.

According to the state comptroller, 48% of inmates released from state jail are rearrested within three years. In comparison, operating Texas drug courts experience a recidivism rate between 8% and 24%.

This cycle of ineffective and potentially destructive government policy was addressed in a State of Conscience issued in 2000 by the Unitarian Universalist Association, which called for a re-examination of how to conduct the War on Drugs. Seeing this as a moral issue, Emerson Unitarian Church initiated the Harris County Drug Court Foundation to support the Harris County Drug Court.

The Harris County Drug Court Foundation received 501© (3) non-profit status by the Internal Revenue Service in July 2006. It has since grown to include participation from Interfaith Ministries of Houston, and future partnerships with a variety of Faith Organizations is expected.