TDCJ LAR Includes $110M in Technology-Related Exceptional Items

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s (TDCJ) Fiscal Year 2028-29 Legislative Appropriations Request (LAR) includes about $110 million in exceptional items with IT components, led by proposed funding for contraband interdiction technology, secure facility connectivity and Shared Technology Services.

The largest technology-related item is Integrated Technology and Contraband Interdiction Operations, which totals about $56 million. The request includes about $40 million for drone detection equipment, drone surveillance and contraband detection equipment and about $16 million for secure connectivity at 22 facilities.

The item would also support 176 full-time equivalent positions tied to command center operations, Fusion Center intelligence monitoring, IT support and the contraband canine program. TDCJ says the funding would support an integrated approach to detecting, monitoring and responding to contraband threats across the correctional system.

The request reflects the agency’s continued focus on contraband interdiction as drones, wireless devices and other methods create security challenges for correctional facilities. The funding would put technology behind that work through detection equipment, surveillance capabilities, secure connectivity and operational staffing.

TDCJ is also requesting about $45 million for Department of Information Resources (DIR) Shared Technology Services. The agency says its use of shared technology services has grown because of cybersecurity challenges, agile technology needs and difficulty finding IT talent within the state’s full-time equivalent pool.

A separate existing technology maintenance and support item totals about $9 million. That request includes about $6 million to replace more than 5,000 radios and related equipment, about $2 million for telephone system licensing and about $1.5 million for computer equipment supporting high-risk pre-release inmate programs.

The baseline side of the LAR also includes technology funding. TDCJ requests about $142 million across baseline technology capital categories, including about $47 million for acquisition of information resource technologies, about $83 million for data center and Shared Technology Services and about $12 million for the Centralized Accounting and Payroll/Personnel System.