More than 70 Texas prisoners are 3 days into a hunger strike protesting harsh solitary confinement practices
Prisoners have refused food to protest practices that have kept more than 500 people in isolation for more than a decade. Full Story
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![The Gurney Unit prison, operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Tennessee Colony, in 2016.]()
Credit: Martin do Nascimento for The Texas Tribune -
Texas prisoners launching hunger strike to protest state’s harsh solitary confinement practices
Hundreds of prisoners may participate in the protest beginning Tuesday, the first day of the state’s legislative session. Texas often keeps prisoners in solitary confinement for years or decades. Full Story
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![Telford prison in New Boston on March 21, 2018]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Prison contractor MTC accused of billing Texas millions for inmate treatment programs it didn’t provide
Before being released on parole, most Texas prisoners must complete treatment programs like life skills or addiction therapy. Private prison operator Management & Training Corporation allegedly stopped providing the services, but kept taking the money. Full Story
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![Birds fly overhead at the Hilltop prison unit in Gatesville on Nov. 25, 2019.]()
Credit: Angela Piazza for The Texas Tribune -
State agencies push for better worker pay as critical staffing crunch hits Texas government
Texas agencies say they are being hammered by a historic staffing crisis, particularly when it comes to those in the trenches serving the state’s most vulnerable populations. Full Story
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![Exterior of the Texas State Capitol on Nov. 19, 2020.]()
Credit: Amna Ijaz/The Texas Tribune -
“It’s a living hell”: Scorching heat in Texas prisons revives air-conditioning debate
Texas heat has killed prisoners and cost the state millions in wrongful death and civil rights lawsuits. Prison rights advocates hope a budget surplus next year will finally push lawmakers to invest in air conditioning. Full Story
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![Ferguson Unit incarcerated person David Segovia speaks about the unbearable heat he experienced living on the third floor of the prison outside of Huntsville, TX, on Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2022.]()
Credit: Annie Mulligan for The Texas Tribune -
Texas will resume inmate transportation after completing review of convicted murderer’s escape
The review came after Gonzalo Lopez escaped on May 12 and eventually killed five people. Full Story
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![The Texas Department of Criminal Justice William G. McConnell Unit at Chase Field in Beeville on Nov. 1, 2013.]()
Credit: Jennifer Whitney for The Texas Tribune -
Texas suspends most transportation of inmates while it reviews convicted murderer’s escape
The review comes after Gonzalo Lopez escaped from a prison bus last month. Authorities say he killed a family of five before they found and killed him. Full Story
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![A Texas Department of Criminal Justice bus at the William G. McConnell Unit at Chase Field in Beeville on Nov. 1, 2013.]()
Credit: Jennifer Whitney for The Texas Tribune -
Authorities fatally shoot convicted murderer who killed family of five while on the lam
Authorities say Gonzalo Lopez killed a man and his four grandchildren in Leon County. He escaped from a prison bus nearly three weeks ago. Full Story
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![Texas Department of Criminal Justice William G. McConnell Unit at Chase Field in Beeville in 2013.]()
Credit: Jennifer Whitney for The Texas Tribune -
Four days after audacious escape from prison bus, Texas still hasn’t found convicted murderer
Officials are still trying to piece together how Gonzalo Lopez managed to cut through a metal door and hijack a prison bus Thursday. An extensive manhunt continues in Leon County. Full Story
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![A Texas Department of Criminal Justice bus at the William G. McConnell Unit in Beeville.]()
Credit: Jennifer Whitney for The Texas Tribune -
Spared execution once, Texas prisoner Kenneth Foster could face death penalty again after cellmate's death
Foster had been the getaway driver, not the triggerman, in a killing that first put him on death row. Former Gov. Rick Perry commuted his death sentence to life in prison in 2007. Full Story
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![The exterior of Huntsville Unit, a prison in Huntsville, on Nov. 14, 2019.]()
Credit: Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Supreme Court justices appear reluctant to loosen restrictions on religious advisers during Texas executions
The latest Texas execution protocols forbid spiritual advisers from praying aloud or touching prisoners as the prisoners are killed. Some members of the high court said they feared overturning the rules would lead to a flood of requests for other religious accommodations during executions. Full Story
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![Supreme Court police officers walk alongside protective barriers in Washington D.C., on Nov. 1, 2021.]()
Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune -
U.S. Supreme Court weighs religion’s place in the Texas death chamber
After halting three Texas executions because of limits placed on spiritual advisers in the death chamber, the high court will hear arguments today over what religious rights the state must accord inmates as it kills them. Full Story
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![The Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 1, 2021.]()
Credit: Eric Lee for The Texas Tribune -
For third time in recent years, U.S. Supreme Court halts a Texas execution over rules for religious advisers in the death chamber
John Ramirez was scheduled to die Wednesday. His last request to the state had been to let his pastor hold on to him as he died, something the state denied. The high court wants to hear oral arguments on the matter later this year. Full Story
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![Interior of execution chamber.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Converted Texas prison gets first immigrant detainees as Gov. Greg Abbott’s border security effort ramps up
Border-crossing immigrants are being arrested by Texas troopers on state charges like trespassing, and they’re starting to trickle into a prison emptied to house them. Full Story
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![The Dolph Briscoe Unit in Dilley on July 1, 2021.]()
Credit: Chris Stokes for The Texas Tribune -
Almost 150 guards are staffing an empty Texas prison as state officials work on Gov. Greg Abbott’s plan to use it for immigrants
While many Texas prisons are understaffed, some dangerously so, the emptied-out Briscoe Unit in Dilley is in "maintenance mode" as officials scramble to implement the governor's plan to increase the state's role in border enforcement. Full Story
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![The Dolph Briscoe Unit in Dilley on July 1, 2021.]()
Credit: Chris Stokes for The Texas Tribune -
Texas executes John Hummel for murdering his family in 2009
A civil liberties group had tried to delay Hummel's death after reporters were excluded from the state’s last execution. Full Story
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![Interior of Death Chamber by Texas Department of Criminal Justice.]()
Credit: Photo Illustration by Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune -
Dozens who died in Texas prisons during the pandemic had been granted parole, new report shows
At any given time, thousands of Texas prisoners have been approved for parole but not yet released. At least 42 of those people died in the 12 months after the coronavirus first swept the state. Full Story
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![Female prisoners line up inside a state jail.]()
Credit: Brandon Thibodeaux for The Texas Tribune -
For the first time in more than 40 years, media were not allowed to witness a Texas execution
On Wednesday, the state executed Quintin Jones, 41, for the Tarrant County murder of his great-aunt in 1999. Full Story
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![Interior of Death Chamber in Texas.]()
Credit: Jenevieve Robbins/Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
After sweltering temperatures killed Texas prisoners, lawmakers vote to install air conditioning
The bill approved by the House aims to cool all of Texas’ prisons before 2029. But even if it is signed into law, the lockups will only be air conditioned if lawmakers provide funds for installation. Full Story
Credit: Martin do Nascimento for The Texas Tribune -
Texas prisons reverse course, will allow religious advisers in execution chamber
The U.S. Supreme Court has twice stopped Texas executions over claims that previous prison policies were discriminatory and violated religious freedoms. Full Story
![Interior of execution chamber.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice
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