A bipartisan group of state lawmakers is developing a plan to expand treatment and probation programs for low-level offenders, utilizing up to $88 million in state funding. Currently, the state has just 2,400 treatment beds for criminal offenders.

The plan marks a dramatic shift from 2003, when legislators voted to cut funding for prison-based treatment programs, which only caused recidivism rates to shoot up. "The problem is, you go into prison a drunk, you come out a drunk and we haven't accomplished a thing," said Sen. John Whitmire (D-Houston), chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee.

Lawmakers see treatment and probation as a more palatable alternative to building up to five new prisons over the next six years to meet increased demand.

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