A few years ago, rural cities and counties in Texas were lining up to incarcerate inmates for profit in private prisons and jails. But today, as Mose Buchele of KUT News reports in partnership with NPR, an increasing number of cells sit empty, leaving many Texas communities struggling with mounting debts.
Texas Department Of Criminal Justice
Posted in
Criminal Justice
AUDIO SLIDESHOW: Touring the Texas Prison Museum
Former “Walls Unit” warden Jim Willett narrates a photographic tour of the Texas Prison Museum, where he is the executive director.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Looking Back on a Life as a Death House Warden
Jim Willett had not intended to spend the better part of his adult life working in Texas’ sprawling prison system. But the business student turned prison guard worked 30 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and oversaw 89 executions.
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Criminal Justice
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
M. Smith on the continuing controversy over Beaumont’s school administrators, Tan on the deepening divide over the consequences of the House budget, Hamilton on the latest in the fight over higher ed accountability, Grissom on young inmates in adult prisons, Aguilar on the voter ID end game, Tan and Hasson’s Rainy Day Fund infographic, Ramsey on the coming conflict over school district reserves, M. Smith and Aguilar on Laredo ISD’s missing Social Security numbers, Galbraith on environmental regulators bracing for budget cuts and Ramshaw on greater scrutiny of neonatal intensive care units: The best of our best content from March 21 to 25, 2011.
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Criminal Justice
Marc Mauer: The TT Interview
The Tribune sat down recently with national criminal justice expert Marc Mauer, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based reform advocacy group The Sentencing Project, to get his advice about how Texas can continue on its so-called ‘right on crime’ path even as lawmakers slice millions from the state budget. Mauer, who was in Austin for the Barbara Jordan Symposium at the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs, talked about how other states have handled controversial prison closings, how others have reduced criminal justice costs and how the Right On Crime Movement — with support from conservative leaders like Grover Norquist and Newt Gingrich — might give lawmakers the political freedom to be more than tough when it comes to crime.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Marc Mauer: The TT Interview
The national criminal justice expert on how other states have handled controversial prison closings and reduced criminal justice costs and how the Right On Crime Movement might give lawmakers the political freedom to be more than tough when it comes to crime.
Posted in
Demographics
TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Grissom on threats to re-entry programs for criminals, Hamilton on the tempest over the direction of UT, E. Smith’s interview with Joe Straus, Stiles and Chang’s new lobbying app, M. Smith and Weber on where state officeholders send their children to school, Aaronson on allowing new nuclear power plants, Aguilar on how Hispanic Republicans are handling immigration issues, Ramshaw talks abortion with Planned Parennthood’s Cecile Richards, Tan and Dehn on tapping the Rainy Day Fund and Galbraith on San Antonio and its water: The best of our best content from March 14 to 18, 2011.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Senate Approves Eyewitness ID Reform
The Texas Senate unanimously approved a bill today that would revamp eyewitness identification policies used by law enforcement agencies.
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Criminal Justice
Texas Decides on Substitute Execution Drug
Cleve Foster will be the first Texas inmate to receive the anesthetic drug pentobarbital — instead of sodium thiopental — in the three-drug cocktail that will be used in his execution on April 5.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Sanctuary Cities Bill Passes First Hurdle
Legislation banning “sanctuary city” policies in Texas was voted out of the House State Affairs Committee today, sending the controversial bill to the full House for consideration.
