Last week, District Attorney Kim Ogg requested a $20 million dollar increase in her budget to support hiring 102 new prosecutors – an almost 45 percent increase in her attorney staffing. We are disappointed in this request, and urge the Harris County Commissioners Court to reject it. For too long, we’ve used jails and prisons to address community needs that are far better served through greater investments in education, health care and affordable housing – all things that make communities safer and more equitable. Investing in more prosecutors means investing in more prosecutions and more jail beds. Especially at a time where crime is on the decline, such actions are fiscally and morally irresponsible. The best way to improve the health and safety of our community is to shrink the District Attorney’s Office, not expand it.
The Texas Organizing Project played a critical role in D.A. Ogg’s election, making nearly 1.2 million door-to-door visits and phone calls and providing almost 2,500 rides to the polls. Our members stood by her side as she ran for office on a promise to reverse the costly, counterproductive and cruel over-reliance on incarceration that defines the criminal justice system in Harris County. We believed her when she promised she would make our community safer by focusing resources on the most serious charges while ending the cycle where incarceration is the first, not last resort for most offenses. Most importantly, we believed her when she said that she would work to end mass incarceration, which has torn apart families across Harris County, with a particularly devastating impact on families of color, while failing to make us safer.
“D.A. Ogg’s request will do the opposite of what she promised in her campaign, where she vowed to roll back mass incarceration. Adding nearly 45 percent more to the District Attorney’s Office prosecutors will lead to more people in jail and prison, not less, and will do nothing to make our communities safer,” said Michelle Tremillo, TOP’s executive director. “We strongly oppose this request, and hope that the commissioners will do the same and allocate money toward schools, health care, and housing, not a structure that will increase incarceration.”
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Texas Organizing Project organizes Black and Latino communities in Dallas, Harris and Bexar counties with the goal of transforming Texas into a state where working people of color have the power and representation they deserve. For more information, visit organizetexas.org.