Jennifer Stayton of KUT News talked with author Sherry Matthews about her new book on the Waco State Home, a troubled youth facility that operated until the 1970s. Matthews says that for some alumni of the youth facility, life there remains too painful a memory to recount.
Courts
Stay up to date on Texas courts with in-depth coverage of major rulings, judicial elections, criminal justice, and the judges shaping state law from The Texas Tribune.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Execution Drug Switch Ignites Controversy
Texas’ decision to change one of the drugs used for lethal injections has sparked a lawsuit, calls for federal investigation of the criminal justice department and pleas from the drugmaker not to use its product for executions.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Guns on Campus Bill Heads to Senate Floor
The Senate Criminal Justice Committee today approved a controversial bill that would allow students to carry concealed handguns on college campuses.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Lawyers Allege Texas Executes Prisoners With Illegally Obtained Drugs
Lawyers for two Texas death row inmates today asked state and federal law enforcement to investigate whether prison officials illegally obtained death penalty drugs the state used in nearly all of its 466 executions.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
U.S. Offers $5 Million Reward in ICE Murder Case
The U.S. government announced today it is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information that leads to the arrest and possible conviction of the assailants who murdered a U.S. federal agent in Mexico last month.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Death Row Inmates Sue Over Lethal Injection Drug
Two death row inmates sued the state today, arguing that the decision to use a new lethal injection drug was made too secretly and too hastily.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Capitol Access Pass Moving Right Along
For those who frequent the Texas Capitol but don’t feel like sacrificing the time it takes to get a concealed handgun license, there may soon be a special pass allowing them to bypass the building’s metal detectors at Capitol entrances.
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.
Posted in
Criminal Justice
Report: Hundreds of Youths in Adult Prisons
Judges across the state, and particularly in Harris County, are sending youth offenders to adult prisons even when they have few prior offenses, according to a study by a University of Texas criminal justice expert.