House lawmakers are considering a plan to privatize all of Texas’ state jails for low-level felony offenders, a move they say could save the state up to $40 million.
Criminal Justice
Get the latest Texas Tribune coverage on criminal justice, including crime, courts, law enforcement, and reforms shaping the state’s justice system.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Criminal Justice
Lawmakers Want Fewer Tickets for Students
Last year, Texas police issued 300,000 students for offenses like chewing gum, truancy and cursing. The Senate Criminal Justice Committee today discussed a bill that would mean far fewer citations for youngsters in schools.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.