It wasn’t so much a grilling as a polite discussion this morning between Harris County officials and members of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. Despite continued overcrowding at the county’s four facilities and ongoing concerns about inmate conditions, the county is expected in November to ask the commission for permission to continue filling the jails with hundreds of so-called “variance beds” — beds beyond the capacity for which the buildings were designed.
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
Weed All About It
For nearly a decade, advocates of expanded use of medical marijuana have been spurned by the Texas Legislature — but giving up isn’t how they roll. So they’re trying again with a limited proposal.
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Criminal Justice
The Big House Isn’t Big Enough
At today’s hearing of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, Sheriff Adrian Garcia will be grilled about efforts to control overcrowding at Harris County’s four jail facilities, which have seen a dramatic population spike. At the urging of Houston lawmakers, Garcia will be pressed to explain why he wants to keep housing more inmates than the facilities can accommodate, and why some recommendations by the county’s own consultant for ways to reduce its jail population have gone unheeded.
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Criminal Justice
Reservoir Dogged
In 2004, two brothers thought they had found the perfect ecologically friendly business venture: create a wetlands preserve on 4,000 acres of neglected farmland along the Sulphur River in Northeast Texas and make a pile of money selling mitigation credits to developers who build over environmentally sensitive lands elsewhere. Seven years later, the only thing stopping them from realizing that dream is the state of Texas, which has plans to submerge their property under 80 feet of water.
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TribWeek: In Case You Missed It
Stiles’ and Torres’ three-parter on the changing Texas political map, Ramsey on questions about Brian Birdwell’s voting history and residency, Aguilar on the Obama administration’s immigration crackdown, Reed on hospitals that won’t induce early labor, Stiles on what Troy Fraser left off his financial disclosure form, the latest installment of Hu’s Face-Off video debate series, Grissom on the problem-plagued Driver Responsibility Program, Galbraith on the controversy over fracking and M. Smith’s interview with former Texas Supreme Court Justice Harriet O’Neill: The best of our best from July 26 to 30, 2010.
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TribBlog: Keller Appeals
Judge Sharon Keller says that in sanctioning her, the State Commission on Judicial Conduct “acted in a lawless, unconstitutional manner.”
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TribBlog: More Calls for Innocence Commission
Michael Anthony Green was supposed to be freed today after serving 27 years for a rape he didn’t commit. The exoneration is the second in two weeks to come from Harris County District Attorney Pat Lykos’ Post Conviction Review Section. State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, said the findings give more credence to his argument that Texas needs a state innocence commission.
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Criminal Justice
TribBlog: A Teen Debtor’s Prison in Hidalgo?
The ACLU has sued Hidalgo County for jailing an estimated 150 impoverished youths for failure to pay fines racked up on school-related tickets. Such sentences amount to running a “debtor’s prison” and violate the Constitution and Texas law, ACLU attorneys argue.
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A Conversation with Harriet O’Neill
After nearly two decades on the bench, former Texas Supreme Court Justice Harriet O’Neill stepped down earlier this year. She talks with the TT’s Morgan Smith about her legacy and what’s next.
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Criminal Justice
Harriet O’Neill: The TT Interview
The former Texas Supreme Court justice on her 18 years in the judiciary, women on the court, the all-Republican bench and what she really thinks about judicial elections.