A mother is pleading for safer working conditions for TDCJ officers after her son was killed in the line of duty

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – The Texas Department of Criminal Justice and other adult criminal justice agencies are under review.

In September, Sunset staff released a 189-page review of TDCJ, the Board of Correctional Health, the Windham School District and the Board of Pardons and Pardons.

The report states that the audited organizations are at a critical point.

As we reported earlierthe TDCJ review came amid a system-wide prison lockdown due to unprecedented levels of smuggling and violence, and projected inmate populations exceeding TDCJ’s capacity.

The report included recommendations on how to best position TDCJ and its partners to “prevent current challenges from turning into an unmanageable, wide-ranging crisis in the coming years.”

Sunset staff presented the recommendations to the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission on Thursday.

During the nearly six-hour meeting, criminal justice leaders had an opportunity to respond to the proposed recommendations, as did members of the public.

Tammika Motley is one of many members of the public who testified.

The grieving mother carried a poster of her son, 27-year-old Jovian Motley.

“I thought it was only fair to allow one person who would benefit from these recommendations to be present at this conversation,” she said, looking at a photo of her son.

“This is my son, Jovian Motley, who worked as an officer at Wainwright Correctional Facility and was murdered on November 13, 2023,” Motley said.

Shortly after Motley’s death, the TDCJ issued a press release saying Motley died while assisting other officers in restraining an inmate.

In a press release, TDCJ Executive Director Brian Collier said, “Officer Motley was a hero who tragically died protecting his fellow officers and the public.”

“When you have officers who are not equipped with the things they need to do their jobs and go into dark cells where there’s not enough lighting to provide information as to why one officer didn’t make it out alive, that’s a safety issue,” Spotty said.

Motley believes other correctional officers are still under-equipped.

“All officers not having radios is a problem because inmates can pick locks, get out of their cells and attack officers. One officer was brutally assaulted and had to be rushed to the hospital and didn’t have a radio to call for backup,” Motley said.

The executive director of the Texas Correctional Police Council also testified to the lack of equipment for officers: “Many officers work in areas with inmates who do not have the ability to call for help if needed. Imagine working in a prison and not even having a radio to call for help.”

Collier testified that it’s impossible to staff every radio officer, but he said his office is working to address the critical staffing levels cited in the Sunset Report.

Collier attributes the critical shortage to the country’s workforce, geographic challenges and culture.

“There are fewer young people in the workforce and fewer people competing for more jobs, but more than that, it sometimes becomes a geographic issue for our business,” Collier said. “A lot of areas in West Texas where we have prisons that were built in the ’90s, those cities actually have less population today than when we built those prisons.”

Collier said he has already begun working to address morale issues at the agency.

“We’ve created an organizational development department within our human resources department that focuses on employee training, retention and wellness, along with our other initiatives,” Collier said.

In the end, Collier said he agreed with the recommended changes.

Motley testified that she will continue to hold the agency and our state lawmakers accountable.

“To make sure that real change happens. To make sure there isn’t another Jupiter Motley,” she said.

The commission took no action at Thursday’s meeting.

Deputies will consider the testimony and announce the final decisions on December 11 and 12.