Texas has had more inmate deaths related to the coronavirus than any other prison system in the nation. Its death toll of at least 162 inmates outranks every other state as well as the federal prison system.
Jolie McCullough
Jolie McCullough was a reporter at The Texas Tribune from 2015 to 2023. She began as a data visualization journalist and then reported on criminal justice policy, ranging from policing and courts to prisons and the death penalty. She joined the Tribune from the Albuquerque Journal, her hometown newspaper. She previously worked at the Arizona Republic and is a graduate of Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.
Posted in
Demographics
Federal judge blocks Trump administration from stopping census count next week
A federal judge in California late Thursday ordered that the census count should continue until Oct. 31, the date the Census Bureau had planned on before the administration abruptly shortened the count.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
As part of revived federal death penalty, Christopher Vialva executed for Texas double murder
Vialva was the seventh man executed in the federal execution chamber this year after a 17-year hiatus of the federal death penalty. Texas, meanwhile, is expected to have a comparatively low number of state executions this year because of the pandemic.
Posted in
Police brutality in Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott wants to raise the stakes for protesters during a divisive Texas election
Abbott’s campaign event came after a majority of likely Texas voters in a recent poll said that law and order is a bigger issue than the pandemic. Yet they were also more likely to say that racism in the criminal justice system is a larger problem than riots in American cities.
Posted in
Police brutality in Texas
Dallas City Council increases police budget overall, but reallocates $7 million from overtime budget
Much of the overtime cuts were reallocated for other purposes in the department, including more than $3.8 million to hire nearly 100 civilian workers. Other new spending will go toward addressing root causes of crime and improving street lighting.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Texas court tosses death sentence in police killing due to intellectual disability
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals resentenced Juan Lizcano to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He is at least the sixth death row inmate whose sentence was reduced after the U.S. Supreme Court slammed Texas’ methods for determining intellectual disability.
Posted in
Texas 2020 Elections
How Gov. Greg Abbott made Austin’s police budget cuts a top campaign issue for candidates running in November
The Republican governor isn’t on the November ballot. But he has come out hard against efforts to shift city money away from policing, echoing a national debate on policing and crime during a tumultuous election season.
Posted in
Police brutality in Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott calls on all Texas candidates to sign pledge against police budget cuts
The pledge is the governor’s latest political move in an election season consumed by debates on policing reforms and funding.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
No, a Texas man was not indicted for filling out 1,700 mail-in ballots, despite what Attorney General William Barr said
The case at issue stems from a 2017 investigation into suspected mail-in voter fraud in Dallas County.
Posted in
Police brutality in Texas
Gov. Greg Abbott considering legislation to put Austin police under state control after budget cut
If passed, the legislative proposal could consolidate Austin’s police department under the Texas Department of Public Safety.