Extreme Heat is Killing People in Prison. What’s Being Done About It?
As advocates fight to provide relief to incarcerated people, officials are resisting many measures that could help prisoners combat the heat.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Nick Wing Aug 29, 2023
Facing the Climate Crisis From a Texas Prison Cell
For the past seven summers, I have lived in solitary confinement without air conditioning. A trip to medical during a heat wave helped put the climate crisis into perspective.
Kwaneta Harris Jul 28, 2023
Sheriffs Offered Caribbean Cruises and Florida Retreats as Part of Jail Telecom Contracts
Smart Communications, a for-profit Florida company that sells phone, videochat, and email-like services to prisons and jails, told at least one sheriff’s department that it can live “the resort life” on a trip to Florida.
Hayden Betts Oct 17, 2022
America’s Dark History of Criminalizing Queerness
New laws imposing criminal penalties for trans healthcare follow a long legislative history of explicitly targeting queer people in the United States.
Adam M. Rhodes May 25, 2022
When Prisons Locked Down, Prisoners Were Denied Release
Leaving prison often hinges on completing rehabilitative programming. The pandemic caused many of these required courses to be put on hold.
Daniel Moritz-Rabson Jun 29, 2021
Pregnant Women Allege Abuse in Texas Jails
At the same time, state lawmakers are pushing to incarcerate more people pretrial.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg May 28, 2021
San Antonio Activists ‘Cannot in Good Faith’ Support This Year’s Mayoral Candidates
Local activists have soured on incumbent Mayor Ron Nirenberg, and no other candidate offers a compelling alternative.
Jerry Iannelli Apr 30, 2021
The Greatest Threat To Defunding The Police? State Pre-emption.
A little-known legal tool allows states to override progressive policies in cities.
John Pfaff Apr 29, 2021
Austin Uses Money From Police Budget to Fund Substance Use Care
The city will use $1 million in funds diverted from its police budget to expand substance use treatments and harm reduction services for low-income people in Austin and Travis County.
Meg O'Connor Apr 07, 2021
During the Pandemic, Houston Cops Went Undercover and Arrested a Homeless Man Over 0.6 Grams of Meth
As Texas lifts its COVID-19 restrictions, the city’s jail remains overcrowded and its police and prosecutors continue to operate as normal.
Jerry Iannelli Mar 09, 2021
How Teri Castillo Plans to Protect San Antonio From ‘Salivating’ Housing Developers
The housing advocate’s run for city council could be a Texan litmus test for the broad appeal of policies popular with working class voters.
Eoin Higgins Mar 08, 2021
30 Years of Power Outages and Campaign Donations in Texas
State officials funded by power companies have been warned, since at least 1989, that the power grid was at risk of failure in cold weather. They have consistently failed to act.
Jerry Iannelli Feb 26, 2021
San Antonio Bulldozed a Homeless Encampment. Then the Winter Storms Started.
Now, advocacy groups are struggling to keep unhoused people safe.
Jerry Iannelli Feb 19, 2021
Austin To Buy Second Hotel That Will Become Permanent Supportive Housing
The city will use funds diverted from its police budget to set up wraparound services for the people who will live at the hotel.
Meg O'Connor Feb 04, 2021
Austin Will Use Money Cut From Police Budget To Establish Supportive Housing
The City Council voted to buy one hotel and use funds diverted from its police budget to set up wraparound services for the homeless people who will live there.
Meg O'Connor Jan 27, 2021
Rosa Jimenez, Convicted on ‘Junk Science’, Set for Release After More Than 15 Years in Prison
The Travis County District Attorney’s office had joined the release request and, despite Jimenez being taken into custody by ICE, she is expected to be released today.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Jan 27, 2021
Austin’s Unreliable Crime Lab Could Lead to Another Wrongful Execution
Dubious DNA evidence—and a potential coverup by the Travis County DA’s office—are at the heart of a judge’s recommendation that Areli Escobar gets a new trial.
Jerry Iannelli Jan 20, 2021
Hidden Foster Care: All Of The Responsibility, None Of The Resources
Outside of the traditional foster care system exists a shadow system of potentially hundreds of thousands of children removed by CPS to their relatives or family friends—without a court case, monetary support, or due process.
Roxanna Asgarian Dec 21, 2020
Police Funding Is a Pivotal Issue in Two Austin City Council Runoffs
Incumbents Jimmy Flannigan and Alison Alter have been targeted by conservative challengers because of the council’s votes to cut police funding and repeal a ban on public camping.
Meg O'Connor Dec 01, 2020
Some Texas Elections Suggest Voters Aren’t Afraid of Defunding Police
None of the Austin City Council members who voted to cut police funding lost their elections, but a police union vice president who fearmongered about the defund movement did.
Meg O'Connor Nov 20, 2020
Reformer Ed Gonzalez Wins Second Term As Harris County Sheriff
Houston area voters re-elected Gonzalez after he supported bail reform, cleaned up the county jail, and provided aid to incarcerated people living with opioid use disorder.
Jerry Iannelli Nov 04, 2020
Lorenzo Sanchez Wants to Provide Healthcare to Uninsured Texans
Sanchez is running for one of the state House seats that Democrats are hoping to flip.
Meg O'Connor Nov 02, 2020
Texas House Candidate Celina Montoya Is Running To Expand Medicaid and Fund Public Education
She is running for a historically Republican-controlled seat, and if she wins, it could help turn the state House blue.
Meg O'Connor Oct 30, 2020
Candace Valenzuela Is Running to Give All People a Chance at the American Dream
If she’s successful in her bid to represent Texas’s 24th Congressional District, Valenzuela will flip the district to blue and become the first Black and Latinx member of Congress.
Joshua Vaughn Oct 30, 2020
Democratic Candidate Brandy Chambers Wants to Help Turn the Texas House Blue
If Chambers can unseat the Republican incumbent in her district, she said she’ll prioritize expanding Medicaid, improving public education funding, and lowering property taxes.
Meg O'Connor Oct 29, 2020
How Julie Oliver’s Personal Experiences With Healthcare And Housing Have Influenced Her Run For Congress
‘Our Congress should be reflective of the people here, and it’s not,’ the Texas resident said.
Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Oct 27, 2020
A Trumpist Texas Sheriff is Running for Congress. If He Wins, His Brother Might Take Over the Sheriff’s Office.
Fort Bend Sheriff Troy Nehls wants voters to send him to Congress despite his department’s history of jail deaths and allegations of racial-profiling.
Jerry Iannelli Oct 23, 2020
‘Democracy Pressure-Tested’: Voter Suppression Efforts Underway As Election Nears
Efforts by elected leaders in several states are making it harder to get to the polls and fomenting misinformation about the election amid a pandemic.
Joshua Vaughn Oct 21, 2020
As More States Turn To Mail-In Voting, Problems Pop Up Across Country
Last week’s problems in New York were part of a widespread series of issues, both systemic and targeted, that are only now becoming fully apparent, activists say.
Eoin Higgins Oct 08, 2020
Four Austin Women Reported Their Sexual Assaults. But Police And Prosecutors Failed To Hold The Perpetrators Accountable.
While a debate over defunding the police rages in Austin, a new lawsuit reminds its residents that assault cases in the city are routinely ignored.
Jerry Iannelli Oct 02, 2020
Texas Family Wants Justice For Deadly No-Knock Drug Raid
In February 2019, police officers in Killeen shot James Scott Reed in his home. One officer entered a guilty plea to evidence tampering, but Reed’s family is still suing the city and several officers in federal court.
Jerry Iannelli Sep 04, 2020
Austin May Cut Police Budget by Nearly $150 Million
The City Council will pass a budget this week that could cut nearly $150 million in funding from the Austin Police Department. The proposal appears to have majority support.
Meg O'Connor Aug 12, 2020
Pretrial Detention During A Pandemic Could Be A Death Sentence. Yet, Prosecutors Continue To Use It To Extract Plea Deals.
A deadly pandemic should not be used as a bargaining chip against poor, detained people charged with crimes.
Amanda Woog Aug 04, 2020
Coronavirus In Jails And Prisons
A new report finds that too many kids, particularly Black youth, continue to be held in dangerous juvenile detention facilities; California prison officials refused offers of free testing before and during San Quentin outbreak; and Gov. Gavin Newsom announces plans to release 8,000 incarcerated people.
Kelly Davis Jul 10, 2020
Requiring a Bar Exam in 2020 Perpetuates Systemic Inequities in the Legal System
Prioritizing bar examiners’ gatekeeping function during a pandemic and economic crisis means putting aspiring lawyers at risk and making it harder for nonwhite and low-income people to enter the legal profession.
Lauren Hutton-Work, Rae Guyse Jul 06, 2020
Houston Police Chief’s Speeches Supporting Protesters Were Widely Circulated—But Video Proves His Officers Cracked Down on Them
Videos contradict officers’ claims that they didn’t ‘kettle’ protesters.
Jerry Iannelli Jun 12, 2020
Texas Prisoner Whose Case Changed the State’s Death Penalty Law Is Granted Parole
Attorneys argued for decades that Bobby Moore was intellectually disabled when he was sentenced to death in 1980. A U.S. Supreme Court ruling led to a change in his sentence last year and cleared the way for his release.
Lauren Gill Jun 09, 2020
‘I can never be more grateful.’ After Nearly 35 Years, Willie Mae Harris Is Released From Prison
Harris, now 72 and blind, had been serving a life sentence for the shooting death of her husband, a man she said had abused her for years. Last month, the Arkansas Parole Board agreed to free her.
Lauren Gill Jun 05, 2020
‘I Am Feeling Scared And Alone.’ The Reopening Of America Leaves Behind Prisoners Who Remain At Risk Of COVID-19
Texas’s governor has proclaimed that ‘safe practices save lives,’ but prisoners say that advice can’t be followed in the state’s prisons, where unsanitary conditions have left the novel coronavirus ‘spreading vigorously.’
Tana Ganeva Jun 01, 2020
Pregnant Woman in Pennsylvania Jail Denied Release
An Erie County judge said the pregnant 20-year-old would be ‘safer’ in jail from the COVID-19 outbreak.
Victoria Law May 11, 2020