Texas prison officials are considering closing a unit in downtown Houston that houses parole violators.
State Sen. John Whitmire tells the Houston Chronicle he supports the plan that would shut the South Texas Intermediate Sanction Facility near Minute Maid Park and move the some 400 inmates there to the Kegans State Jail near the Harris County Jail. Kegans inmates would be moved to the Lychner State Jail in Humble, which has room to accommodate them.
The Texas Board of Criminal Justice is expected to get the plan for its approval at a meeting Thursday in Austin.
The closing would be part of a proposed new criminal justice budget for 2017-2019 to be presented at the board meeting. Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered a 4 percent cut in state spending.
