A federal lawsuit accuses the sheriff’s office of violating the constitutional rights of inmates, dozens of whom have died or been injured at the jail in recent years.
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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The 2023 Texas Tribune Festival
T-Squared: The wait is over. Our full program for TribFest23 is here!
We’re bringing people together for talks that will examine education, Texas’ energy future, the 2024 races for U.S. Senate and president, and the state of democracy.
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Criminal Justice
Ken Paxton moves one step closer to trial on long-delayed securities fraud charges
The impeached attorney general appeared in a Houston courtroom, where lawyers from both sides agreed to return in October to set an expected trial date on charges that have been pending since 2015.
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Criminal Justice
Dallas attorney Sidney Powell appears to be “co-conspirator” in new Trump indictment
Though she is not named in the four-count indictment filed Tuesday against Trump, the Justice Department makes numerous references to a “co-conspirator 3” whose description matches Powell, a prominent election fraud conspiracy theorist.
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Criminal Justice
“Someone’s going to end up dead”: New evidence emerges in Travis Scott Astroworld tragedy
A new Houston police report details how the rapper perceived what was happening and what he told investigators. It also contains police interviews with concert promoters, security personnel and other key witnesses.
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Criminal Justice
Facing sex discrimination claims, Texas begins jailing migrant women under border crackdown
Operation Lone Star originally targeted single men suspected of crossing the border illegally in mass trespassing arrests, but some claimed that not arresting women violated equal protection laws.
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Uvalde school shooting
Watch how a Texas professor used art to honor Uvalde’s lost kids
After the tragic Uvalde school shooting in 2022, Abel Ortiz, an art professor at Southwest Texas Junior College, asked artists from across the state to come together to use the power of art to heal. See the results of their efforts in this video.
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Criminal Justice
Prisoners’ relatives and former inmates plead for help as deaths mount in sweltering Texas prisons
Several lawmakers supported a call for Gov. Greg Abbott to bring lawmakers back immediately to approve air conditioning for prisons, which the Legislature declined to do during its regular session.
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Criminal Justice
Travis County won’t pursue driving while intoxicated charges against State Sen. Charles Schwertner
The Republican from Georgetown was arrested in Austin in February. But the county attorney said there wasn’t sufficient evidence to prosecute.
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Criminal Justice
Gov. Greg Abbott sends more state police to patrol Austin after city leaders call for end to partnership
Austin Mayor Kirk Watson had said that troopers pulling a gun on a 10-year-old prompted the end of the agreement. A video of that encounter shows troopers with guns pointed at the ground, not the child.