Now, I personally have spent a small amount of time with welfare recipients, and many of them remained on welfare because it was the only way they could qualify for Medicaid and thus have insurance coverage for their children. But, as the welfare time limit approached, Dubya made sure Texas would be quite stingy with who was able to receive insurance assistance for their children. And, don't worry, kids don't get sick much anyway. Most of those so locked up are poor and have no attorneys. Texas leads the nation in incarcerations and in executions.
Little effort is made to get representation for the indigent accused of crimes.
They have no life anyway. Some, literally, are in jail months before being assigned representation and the first time they see their attorney is the day of their trial. Dubya recently vetoed legislation that would have required the appointment of counsel in 20 days. Meaning that an innocent person, potentially, could be in jail 20 days before even seeing a lawyer. But, no this is Texas.