An analysis of potential agricultural reforms in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) faces many of the same management problems as other agribusinesses. Namely, the agency is under increased pressure to manage resources efficiently. As the prison population continues to grow, the need for more resources and for using current resources more efficiently becomes greater. One of the departments within TDCJ receiving increased scrutiny in terms of managing its resources efficiently is the Agriculture Department (TDCJAG).Allocating resources efficiently among the various enterprises within TDCJAG is difficult because the agricultural operations are complex and interrelated. For example, crop enterprises provide commodities to the feed mills to produce feed used by the livestock enterprises which produce animals that can be processed to provide meat for the diet requirements. A decision to decrease the resources devoted to an individual enterprise affects more than the enterprise in question.This study focuses on how to manage the resources devoted to TDCJ's agricultural operations in an efficient manner. It investigates several questions that TDCJAG is currently facing in its strategic management decisions: (1) Are TDCJAG's current operations efficient? (2) How should TDCJ respond to budget cuts? (3) Is TDCJAG as a whole an efficient use of Texas state resources? and (4) Are there some individual enterprises within TDCJAG that do not make efficient use of Texas state resources? The investigation is carried out using a mathematical programming model. Two methods are used to examine possible discontinuance of various enterprises: a linear model combined with capital budgeting and a mixed integer model which incorporates the fixed costs of the various enterprises within the model.The study found that the current TDCJ agricultural operations can be more efficiently managed by changing the crop mix and coordinating the diet with the agricultural practices. It was found that when considering fixed costs, while the agricultural operations as a whole are an efficient use of Texas state resources, the beef enterprise and an associated feed mill do not appear to be an efficient use of Texas state resources. Another factor considered was the value (or cost) of using inmate labor. The value of inmate labor affects the efficient allocation of resources to the TDCJ Agriculture Department. Positive values for labor favor labor-intensive enterprises and, conversely, negative values (i.e., a cost) for labor discourage such enterprises.