POSTED: Thursday, June 16, 2011 - 6:17pm
UPDATED: Saturday, June 18, 2011 - 8:50pm
Juvenile parole office axed by state budget cuts
Tyler, TX — The Texas Youth Commission parole office in Tyler is expected to close its' doors at the end of June. This news comes just weeks after state lawmakers dissolve the organization.
The Texas Youth Commission aims to help teens on out on parole get on a better path. Now a brand new agency will help those teens 17 and under stay straight with the law.
The idea behind cutting the Texas Youth Commission is to consolidate state agencies "the overall consensus is that kids will do better if they're served in their local communities and rehabilitated that way," says Ross Worley, the director of Smith County Juvenile Services.
Local lawyers who deal with teens say East Texas is prepared to lose TYC. "It helps having so many resources here, that we can put kids into treatment programs, get them through the system and them let them become productive members of society as adults," adds attorney Jim Huggler.
Sources say the Texas Youth Commission is just the latest victim in a series of state budget cuts. TYC offices in Crockett, Beaumont, and Brownwood will be closed, laying off more than 700 workers. Reports say two administrators will lose their jobs here in Tyler. The silver lining though though of these TYC cuts in Tyler may be that no parole officers will lose their jobs
"We are losing some administrative assistants, but we do expect our parole officers to continue opertating pretty much as thay have been," says Jim Hurley the public affiars director of TYC.
Criminal lawyers in East Texas tell KETK there shouldn't be an increased danger with TYC out of commission.
"We still have the juvenile probation department, we still have the da's office, all that is still in place. Only thing is there's one less building that has the state of texas sign on the front door," concludes Hugler.