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Giddings State School, a Texas Juvenile Justice Department correctional facility, in Lee County on July 20, 2022.
Juvenile Justice

Almost 600 Texas youths are trapped in a juvenile prison system on the brink of collapse

The agency is so understaffed that teens have reported spending up to 23 hours locked in their cells, using water bottles to go to the bathroom. A staggering number have hurt themselves or been placed on suicide watch.

Downward spiral

Giddings State School, a Texas Juvenile Justice Department correctional facility, in Lee County on July 20, 2022.

“We got to have a plan”

Giddings State School, a Texas Juvenile Justice Department correctional facility, in Lee County on July 20, 2022.

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