More than 400,000 Texans are on probation, including approximately 218,000 felony probationers. Revoked probationers account for 37% of prison intakes and 41% of state jail intakes. The 22,980 probationers revoked in 2015, including 12,330 revoked for technical violations such as missed appointments, are projected to serve an average of 2.5 years at a cost of $54.89 a day, resulting in an annual cost of $460 million.
Criminal Justice
License plate readers can aid police — but Texas needs guardrails
Earlier this summer, two Texas law enforcement agencies announced investigations involving the alleged misuse of Flock Safety’s automated license plate reader (ALPR) technology. In Fort Bend County, a sheriff’s lieutenant admitted to conducting repeated searches unrelated to official law enforcement duties nearly 200 times. Shortly thereafter, Baytown Police opened internal affairs and criminal investigations into allegations that an...
August 19, 2026