updated Mon. April 15, 2024
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Austin American-Statesman
February 21, 2018
A former Texas jail guard still becomes emotional when he thinks about the day several prisoners helped save his life when he suffered a massive ... Grimm, 52, was guarding prisoners in a basement holding cell at the Parker County District Courthouse on June 23, 2016, when he suffered the heart attack.
Chron.com
February 20, 2018
BOOK RULES: Texas inmates can read Hitler's 'Mein Kampf,' not 'Charlie Brown Christmas'. Some prisoners embroiled in the litigation have hoped to opt out, she said, due to concerns that involvement in the legal case would decrease their chances of getting into certain programs TDCJ offers.
Chron.com
February 12, 2018
In 2007, there were 75,124 prisoners serving time for violent offenses. By last year, that number rose to more than 80,000. Over the same timeframe, Clark said, the number of mentally ill inmates increased by 17 percent. In a story published last week in the Chronicle, an official with the University of TexasÃÂ ...
Governing
February 5, 2018
After years of court wrangling over the dangers of unmitigated summer heat in cellblocks, Texas prison officials have reached a tentative settlement to provide air conditioning at a geriatric prison outside of Houston along with resolving lawsuits involving inmates who died or were injured by excessive heatÃÂ ...
Chron.com
February 4, 2018
... sided with an inmate representing himself in a lawsuit alleging Texas prison staff failed to treat him when he had a stroke, then continued showing "deliberate indifference" that he says contributed to a heart attack two weeks later. It's not common for a court to side with prisoners representing themselves inÃÂ ...
Texas Tribune
January 31, 2018
The network backed by the billionaire industrialist brothers Charles and David Koch is investing millions to research how to help former prisoners ... The influential Koch network is zeroing in on Texas as a new laboratory for prison reform. ... It was prisoner re-entry reform,” Deason said in an interview.
Chron.com
January 30, 2018
... 22 inmates died from heat stroke at 15 Texas prisons since 1998. LAWSUIT: Heat-related prison deaths at issue in lawsuit. One victim was Larry McCollum, a 58-year-old cab driver from the Dallas area imprisoned for writing bad checks. He was found by fellow prisoners at the Hutchins Unit convulsing onÃÂ ...
U.S. News & World Report
January 28, 2018
Texas prison officials say an inmate serving a life sentence for capital murder in Bexar County has confessed to the slaying earlier this month of a fellow ... Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark says while the slaying remains under investigation, Alfred Brosig told authorities he killedÃÂ ...
NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
January 28, 2018
Texas prison officials say an inmate serving a life sentence for capital murder in Bexar County has confessed to the slaying of a fellow inmate earlier this ... Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark says while the slaying remains under investigation, Alfred Brosig told authorities heÃÂ ...
Fort Worth Star Telegram
January 28, 2018
Texas prison officials say an inmate serving a life sentence for capital murder in Bexar County has confessed to the slaying of a fellow inmate earlier this month at a Southeast Texas prison. Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark says while the slaying remains under investigation,ÃÂ ...
Newshub
January 27, 2018
A federal inmate in Texas has been busted breaking back into prison with a duffle bag of snacks and supplies. The escapee was caught outside the Beaumont prison after the facility was tipped off that inmates were leaving the grounds via private land at the building's rear. The prisoners were allegedlyÃÂ ...
Publishers Weekly
January 27, 2018
Despite the recent suspension of a directive that would have prevented individuals from sending books directly to New York State prisoners, as well as ... According to the statement, NYC BTB “condemns the use of any vendors and any restrictions on prisoner's access to education, reading, food and more.
KRQE News 13
January 27, 2018
BEAUMONT, Texas (KXAN) — A federal inmate was caught sneaking back into a Beaumont prison with a duffle bag full of snacks, fruit, liquor and tobacco Thursday. The U.S. Marshals and Jefferson County Sheriff's office were acting on a tip when they set up a surveillance operation on private propertyÃÂ ...
The Intercept
January 26, 2018
“The fact that, for these prisoners, solitary confinement is automatic and permanent until either the prisoner is executed, or dies of natural causes, or has his death ... in 2010 after spending 12 years in mandatory solitary confinement as a death-row prisoner in Texas and now works with the ACLU of Texas.
Newsweek
January 18, 2018
A Texas man known as the “Tourniquet Killer” is scheduled to become the first prisoner executed in 2018 if he is put to death as planned on Thursday. The execution of Anthony Shore, 55, could bring comfort not only to the loved ones of his victims, but even to his own daughter, who said her father hasÃÂ ...
UT The Daily Texan
January 15, 2018
Inside Books Project is a nonprofit organization with the mission to send books to prisoners who want to learn, be entertained or connect emotionally with books. Every Sunday and Thursday, Inside Books' volunteers answer stacks of letters from Texas prisoners. Each letter contains a request for books, andÃÂ ...
Newsweek
January 15, 2018
Updated | Prisoners in Florida are planning to go on strike on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to protest "prison slavery" and "deplorable conditions within ... A U.S. Department of Justice report from 2014 identified Florida as having the second-highest number of deaths in state prisons that year, second to Texas.
Chron.com
January 15, 2018
Houston police are searching in east downtown for an escaped prisoner, a man with a long criminal recording, including bail jumping and fleeing from police. Jorge Santana-Trujillo, 30, escaped from a transport van after slipping out of his handcuffs, HPD spokeswoman Jodi Silva said. He was in custodyÃÂ ...
Workers World
January 12, 2018
“A stupid prisoner is a good prisoner.” This belief has been put into practice in a Texas prison, the Ramsey Unit, which was built over 100 years ago on what had been five slave plantations. Warden Virgil McMullen's victims are prisoners who go to college, do peer tutoring, assist others in getting theirÃÂ ...
HPPR
January 4, 2018
The lack of adequate heating was reported by the inmates' family members. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is pushing back against the charges, insisting that all Texas prisons were “operating with adequate heating.” Many of the buildings that make up the Texas prison system date back to theÃÂ ...
Dallas News (blog)
January 4, 2018
Prisoner #64023-061 has been called many names over the years — member of the Midwest Bank Robbers, co-founder of the Aryan Republican Army, Commander Pedro, and, simply, Peter. But for the last 20 years, this inmate has preferred a wholly different moniker: Donna. Two decades into a lifeÃÂ ...
Chron.com
January 3, 2018
The action, which prison officials said was driven by complaints over recreational time and food portions and temperature, started with more than 45 administrative segregation prisoners on Christmas Day at the Allred Unit. By Wednesday morning, 37 inmates were still turning down meals at the Iowa ParkÃÂ ...
Chron.com
January 3, 2018
The action, which prison officials said was driven by complaints over recreational time and food portions and temperature, started with more than 45 administrative segregation prisoners on Christmas Day at the Allred Unit. By Wednesday morning, 37 inmates were still turning down meals at the Iowa ParkÃÂ ...
Chron.com
December 31, 2017
More than 40 prisoners at a north Texas lock-up are on hunger strike, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman confirmed Sunday. Forty-five administrative segregation inmates at the Allred Unit in Iowa Park, have begun refusing their meals. "Most of the offenders have items purchased in theÃÂ ...
Austin American-Statesman
December 28, 2017
Much of the money owed to people who are wrongfully convicted is guaranteed through the Tim Cole Act, a law approved in 2009 that makes exonerated Texans eligible for lump sum payments equal to $80,000 for each year they were wrongfully imprisoned. They also are eligible for monthly payments forÃÂ ...
KSAT San Antonio
December 16, 2017
HOUSTON - Usually you never see a sexual assault victim because their identities are protected, but Nicole Truelove wants people to hear her story. She said the state has not filed charges in the month since she said an inmate sexually assaulted her in her classroom inside the Ferguson Unit nearÃÂ ...
Idaho Statesman
December 31, 1999
Up to 250 male inmates from Idaho prisons and jails will be transported and temporarily held at the Karnes County Correctional Center in Karnes City, Texas, due to a lack of bed space here, according to the the Idaho Department of Correction. Inmates will be held at the Karnes County Correctional CenterÃÂ ...
Texas Tribune
December 31, 1999
“It's a big day for the inmates who suffered through those summers at the Pack Unit,” said Jeff Edwards, attorney for the prisoners. “They're not going to be in fear of dying from heat stroke anymore.” Edwards said the agreement details that the department will install temporary air conditioning for the comingÃÂ ...
The Guardian
December 31, 1999
In the wake of a boycott of death penalty states by drugs manufacturers, Texas has taken to acquiring the chemicals it needs to kill prisoners from “compounding pharmacies” – storefront outlets that concoct their own equivalents of big-name brands. The compounded medicines are much less stringentlyÃÂ ...
KTXS
December 31, 1999
A bus carrying 25 Texas prisoners caught fire Wednesday on Hwy 36 about 30 miles south of Abilene. The inmates, referred to as “offenders” by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, were traveling between Gatesville and Abilene. None of the inmates were injured and were "removed safely,” TDCJ spokesman JasonÃÂ ...
Tyler Morning Telegraph
December 17, 2017
On a chilly December Saturday morning in East Texas, over 70 community members gathered at Tyler Memorial Cemetery to give thanks to military veterans who gave their lives. “Right now, across the country at more than 1,100 memorial sites like this one, we are gathered together to recognize and payÃÂ ...
Houston Chronicle
December 17, 2017
The rising waters of the Brazos River forced the relocation of nearly 7,000 prisoners and parolees, requiring the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to shell ... A former union leader rebuffed prisoner reports of flooding inside the units but still alleged the same staffing shortages the department denied inÃÂ ...
Chron.com
December 15, 2017
A Texas prison teacher tearfully called on Gov. Greg Abbott to charge the inmate she says raped her at an understaffed lock-up north of Huntsville. Nicole Truelove plans to file a lawsuit against the state over the Nov. 13 sex assault inside a Ferguson Unit classroom with no working cameras and no guardsÃÂ ...
San Antonio Current
December 15, 2017
Texas also executed more prisoners than any other state in 2017: almost one third of all executions in the country (seven in total), took place in Texas, ... row inmates who collectively served more than 100 years on death row received reduced sentences in 2017, including Duane Buck, a black prisoner fromÃÂ ...
Houston Chronicle
December 11, 2017
As of December 1, the reforms championed by the organization led to legislators closing eight prisons across Texas. Officials with Texas Department of Criminal Justice said the state now has 104 prisons across the state. In the past few years, Texas' convict population has dropped by about 9,000 prisonersÃÂ ...
The Intelligencer
December 11, 2017
Imagine being a prisoner serving a long sentence, confined to a claustrophobic cell most of the day, every day, and year after year. ... upon reading about Linus fashioning his blanket like a prehistoric slingshot and wielding it to fire snowballs at tin cans on the top of a fence, might give prisoners ideas onÃÂ ...
Chattanooga Times Free Press
December 10, 2017
Joe Barton, R-Texas, threatened a former lover with whom he had shared sexually explicit photographs, videos and messages with criminal charges after one of the photographs of him naked (genitals obscured before posting) wound up on the internet. Speaker Ryan said just before Thanksgiving that heÃÂ ...
STLtoday.com
December 9, 2017
The Texas Department of Corrections apparently takes its prisoners' literature choices very seriously. More than 10,000 books are banned from the state's prisons, The Dallas Morning News reports. Among the banned books are subversive titles such as “Where's Waldo? Santa Spectacular,” “A ChristmasÃÂ ...
Dallas News
December 8, 2017
This Hail Mary, just five days before the filing deadline, illustrates how far Democrats are from turning Texas even a tinge purple. You may care about ... Most concerning has been Valdez's transparency-resistant tendencies, especially in regard to prisoner deaths and other violent incidents. Just a year ago,ÃÂ ...
Houston Chronicle
December 8, 2017
Prisoners can appeal to an overseeing committee, according to a 2011 Texas Civil Rights Project report. But if they lose, the book is considered permanently banned - and Hurt said no one else can appeal it unless "there is a policy change, the book is edited, or additional information is received.".
TIME
December 2, 2017
Texas put to death seven prisoners this year, matching the state total from 2016. They were among the 23 inmates — up from 20 last year — put to death in eight states in 2017. Arkansas carried out four executions, followed by Alabama and Florida with three each, and Ohio and Virginia with two each.
KAGS News
November 30, 2017
BRYAN, Texas--- The man convicted of shooting and killing a ... Once the prisoner is released (either after serving a full sentence or by parole)Â ...
Newsweek
November 30, 2017
The Times report details how as recently as 2015, prisoners convicted of ... a prison in Texas forcibly tested psychedelic drugs on prisoners to ...
San Antonio Current
November 30, 2017
Juan Castillo was scheduled to die on December 14, 2017. He was supposed to be the last prisoner on death row to be executed in Texas this ...
San Francisco Bay View
November 29, 2017
I spoke directly to prisoners who were travelling on buses and vans with me. One glaring issue and topic which continued to come up throughout the course of our conversations is the shocking increase of prisoner deaths inside facilities operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
The Rice Thresher
November 29, 2017
While African-Americans and Latinos make up four in 10 Texas residents, they account for seven in 10 Texas prisoners. For inmates in Texas ...
Austin American-Statesman
November 29, 2017
Texas death row inmate set to die next month gets reprieve ... A 36-year-old Texas prisoner set for execution next month for a robbery-slaying in ...
Austin American-Statesman
November 29, 2017
There's a joke in the film “Logan Lucky” where some West Virginian prisoners stage a standoff with their warden, demanding, among other ...
Chron.com
November 21, 2017
If Harris County were its own state, it would have a more active death chamber than the entire rest of the country - except for the rest of Texas.
UT The Daily Texan
November 15, 2017
While it's true that the documentary “Prisoners of Silence” shows an ... member and parent-support volunteer with the Autism Society of Texas.
