How Texas Jail Overcrowding Became a Public Health Crisis
Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis and Jay Jenkins of the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition joined The Appeal Live to talk about Houston jail overcrowding and COVID-19.
TCJC In the News
Press Contact: For all media inquiries, please contact Madison Kaigh, Communications Manager, at mkaigh@TexasCJC.org or (512) 441-8123, ext. 108.
‘No Beds Left': Houston's Jail is a COVID-19 Superspreader
As of Sunday, there were 8,889 people incarcerated inside Houston’s Harris County Jail, the largest facility of its kind in Texas. Of that number, 7,772—more than 87 percent—are being held pretrial. Nearly half of the people held in the jail, according to the county’s online jail population database, have been arrested on nonviolent charges.
SAISD students want more say in decisions related to pandemic, discipline, and student rights
A group of San Antonio Independent School District students called for the district to include more diverse student voices that accurately represent them in district decisions during a discussion on student rights Tuesday. The SAISD Student Coalition and Poder, the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel’s social justice caucus, held a Facebook Live discussion on student rights Tuesday, with experts from the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, and Texas Appleseed, an Austin-based nonprofit working to end inequities in state laws.
25 beds left: Harris County Jail population again at dangerous levels
Finis Prendergast was expecting to have his day in court when COVID-19 came barreling into Harris County in March. The 42-year-old veteran has now spent 28 months awaiting trial at the county jail on an aggravated robbery charge; the court has reset his proceedings seven times during the pandemic.
On Opening Day of 87th Texas Legislative Session, Texas Criminal Justice Coalition Urges Lawmakers to Prioritize Justice Reform
Kicking off the opening day of Texas’s 87th Legislative Session, where state leadership will be contending with a billion-dollar budget shortfall, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) repeated their previous call for lawmakers to prioritize communities over corrections in an unprecedented year.
State of Texas: ‘The public needs access to its government’ — balancing health and transparency at the Capitol
Lawmakers from every corner of Texas are preparing to return to the State Capitol for the start of the 87th legislative session. The state still does not have an official plan for how the upcoming 87th Legislative Session will operate during the pandemic. But the Texas House of Representatives has outlined a framework for the opening ceremony, offering the first glimpse of how lawmakers will balance transparency with COVID-19 precautions.
Texas hasn’t said when or how inmates will receive the coronavirus vaccine
Texas’ prisons and jails have been coronavirus hot spots throughout the pandemic. At least about 200 Texas inmates have died with COVID-19. So have more than 30 people who worked inside the state’s prisons — and countless others have spread the virus inside lockups and into the surrounding communities.
No Way Out: Texas prisoners describe what it's like inside lock-up during the coronavirus pandemic
More than 33,000 staff and prisoners have caught COVID-19 in the Texas prison system. A WFAA investigation with The Marshall Project exposes how the coronavirus spread due to a lackluster response by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
The vicious cycle of incarceration and homelessness
After being released from prison or jail, many people struggle to find housing. That in turn can prevent them from getting treatment for an addiction or from securing a steady job, and ultimately, staying out of jail. It’s a situation now made even more difficult by COVID-19. Amna Nawaz reports on one woman’s quest for housing in Austin, Texas, as part of our "Searching for Justice" series.
Opinion: Youth probation reform can help Texas teens, save the state money
While the economy and the pandemic remained of primary importance in many individuals’ vote for president and the Senate, Texas exit polls suggest crime and safety were the most important issues for a significant portion of Republican voters as was racial equality for an even larger portion of Democrat voters.
Here’s One Issue That Could Actually Break the Partisan Gridlock
Republicans up and down the ballot tried to link Democrats to lawlessness, but lawmakers in both parties are keeping criminal justice reform on the table.
Editorial: Texas sex ed overhauled, still lacking
In 2018, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition estimated 158,500 Texas youth identified as LGBTQ, including about 13,800 transgender students. Discussing sexual orientation and gender identity in sex education is being inclusive to all students, and also has the potential to limit bullying and harassment. This is no small detail. As we noted in a recent editorial about homophobic politics — especially in a North East ISD trustee race — LGBTQ students are vulnerable. They are more likely to be in the foster system, end up homeless or forced into sex-trafficking than their non-LGBTQ counterparts.
Despite calls for criminal justice reform, will Texas lawmakers add new crimes to the books?
The Texas District & County Attorneys Association, an advocacy group for prosecutors across the state, quipped on Twitter last week about state lawmakers’ effort to address criminal justice reform. “Some things never change” was followed by a shrugging emoticon.
Opinion: Don’t lock away juvenile ‘lifers,’ especially in a pandemic
Providing a chance at parole for rehabilitated juvenile “lifers” is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, a 17-year-old survivor of domestic violence is preparing for trial in Texas. She faces up to 40 years in prison for a murder committed by a man her family says was trafficking her. Despite Zephaniah Trevino’s history of trauma and agreement by the defense and the prosecution that she did not pull the trigger, she is on the precipice of an extreme prison sentence. How did we get here?
Read the rest of this op-ed from the Austin-American Statesman.
“Spend Your Values, Cut Your Losses”: Justice Advocacy Group Releases 2021 Legislative Strategy
Today, the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) released its legislative strategy for the 2021 Texas Legislative Session. The organization’s strategy is presented as a “divestment portfolio” for Texas lawmakers and is titled Spend Your Values, Cut Your Losses: Smart and Safe Justice System Solutions that Put Communities First.
Covid Cases in One State Correctional System Are ‘Off the Charts’
More people in Texas prisons have contracted and died from the coronavirus than in any other prison system in the country, a new report found. Between April and October, more than 23,000 incarcerated people tested positive and just shy of 5,000 staff have, according to the report from the University of Texas at Austin. That means people in Texas prisons are testing positive at a rate 40% higher than the national prison population average.
Thousands Of Texans Can’t Vote Because They’re On Parole Or Probation
When Lori Mellinger was growing up in East Texas, her family talked about politics all the time. They voted in elections both national and local. "I voted for the first time when I was 18 years old," Mellinger said. "I think that’s the last time I probably really voted for the candidate that my family chose, and then started going a different direction."
New Report Shows How Individuals with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Experience the Criminal Legal System in Texas
A new joint report from the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (TCJC) and The Arc of Texas shows how individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DDs) are more likely to become involved and entrenched in the criminal legal system, and it highlights the unique challenges they face.
George Floyd and the Connection to Houston: A Call for Local Reform
On May 25, 3030, the Minneapolis Police murdered George Floyd. The bystander-recorded video footage of the killing showed Officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s back for eight minutes and 46 seconds as Mr. Floyd protested that he was unable to breathe.
Profiting from prisoners: Communities and companies made money off George Floyd’s imprisonment. Inside, Floyd withered.
The prison transport to this tiny city north of Austin took George Floyd past ranch land and cotton fields — worlds away from his home in Houston. But for the then-36-year-old Floyd, the spring of 2009 was another turn through a cycle of incarceration that would be both familiar and futile.