News & Politics
October 23, 2023
Will Speer Found Hope Enough to Share on Texas’s Death Row
He’s one of the first faith-based coordinators for Texas inmates facing the death penalty. He’s scheduled to be executed this week.
Prisons
Latest
1-45 of 45 Articles
Politics & Policy
August 14, 2023
When It Comes to People Behind Bars, Texas Is Way Ahead
We keep putting convicts away. And lawmakers want those numbers to rise.
Style & Design
February 28, 2023
Incarcerated and in Search of Color
For many women inside Texas prisons, a crumb of color—such as a red ribbon or a floral postage stamp—is against the rules, but worth the potential risk.
Politics & Policy
September 23, 2022
During a Summer of Record Heat, Many Prisoners in Texas Struggled to Make It Through the Day Without AC
Seventy percent of Texas prisons do not have AC, except for a small number of ill and elderly inmates, an issue that the Legislature has repeatedly punted on.
News & Politics
September 23, 2022
Bearing Witness at Texas’s First Execution by Lethal Injection
In 1982, Dick J. Reavis chronicled the first government-led lethal injection in world history—and the last moments of Charlie Brooks's life.
State of Mind
June 23, 2021
State of Mind, Episode 2: O Sister, Where Art Thou?
Skip Hollandsworth tells the story of tracking down the Goree All Girl String Band, who became national radio sensations in the 1940s before suddenly disappearing.
News & Politics
August 11, 2020
Faulty Cell Locks Are a Problem in Texas Prisons—Especially During COVID-19
After a riot at a prison in Dilley, corrections department employees confirm that many imprisoned across the state are able to “pop out" of their cells.
News & Politics
May 4, 2020
Prisons Are Coronavirus Hot Spots. Palestine’s Got Five of Them.
A COVID-19 outbreak in a maximum-security unit has created rifts between the local government and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
News & Politics
March 2, 2020
No Glitter, No Glue . . . No Meth? Texas Bans Greeting Cards in Prison
Texas prison officials think they can curb contraband by banning greeting cards, but prisoners say the drugs come in through guards, not mail.
News & Politics
September 6, 2019
Convicted of Murder at Age 12, Edwin Debrow Finally Walks Free
He renounced his violent San Antonio childhood during 28 years behind bars. A new life and new love awaited him outside the prison gates.
Politics & Policy
October 11, 2018
The Love Story That Upended the Texas Prison System
In 1967, a 56-year-old lawyer met a young inmate with a brilliant mind and horrifying stories about life inside. Their complicated alliance—and even more complicated romance—would shed light on a nationwide scandal, disrupt a system of abuse and virtual slavery across the state, and change incarceration in Texas forever.
Politics & Policy
April 16, 2015
The Department of Criminal Justice Moved a Transgender Inmate to a Safekeeping Unit
Following a string of complaints about alleged harassment, assault, and rape, a transgender inmate in Texas was moved to a special “safekeeping” unit in what LGBT activists consider a significant victory.
News & Politics
August 12, 2014
The Witness
For more than a decade, Michelle Lyons’s job required her to watch condemned criminals be put to death. After 278 executions, she won't ever be the same.
Politics & Policy
June 18, 2014
Summer Is Coming
Another lawsuit has been filed over extreme heat in Texas prisons.
Politics & Policy
April 24, 2014
Several Stories This Week Reflect the Problems in Texas’ Criminal Justice System
No system is perfect, but a number of the imperfections in Texas' system are showing all at once.
Art
February 13, 2014
How Prison Art From Texas Captured the Art World’s Attention
Paños, small cloth swatches decorated with detailed illustrations by inmates, now hang in New York museums and are snapped up by worldly collectors.
January 21, 2013
Number of Paroled Inmates Jumps to Ten-Year High
Texas Board of Pardons and Parole granted parole to a full 31 percent of inmates up for review last year, up from 27 percent in 2003.
January 21, 2013
Texas Prison’s Water Problems Attract National Attention
Gawker got wind that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Connally Unit recently was shut down due to "chronic staff staffing shortages and water outages."
January 21, 2013
Lawsuits Over Prisoner Deaths in Hot Texas Prisons
Last summer, four prisoners died from heat-related causes in Texas's sweltering prisons.
January 21, 2013
West Virginia Hangs Head in Shame
Politicians in West Virgina are embarrassed that Keith Judd, a federal inmate incarcerated in Texarkana, made the Democratic primary ballot.
January 21, 2013
Muslim Prisoner Sues Over Beard Ban in State Prison System
Kenneth Hickman says TDCJ's facial hair ban violates his First Amendment rights.
January 21, 2013
The Story Behind the Nation’s Largest Prison Graveyard
Manny Fernandez of the New York Times penned a poignant piece about death in Texas’s prison system.
News & Politics
January 20, 2013
The Exonerated
Thirty-seven men, 525 years behind bars for crimes they didn’t commit. Thanks to DNA testing, their claims of innocence have finally been proved—but what happens to them now?
News & Politics
January 20, 2013
A New Lease On Life
Freedom for Earnest Willis?
Texas History
January 20, 2013
O Sister, Where Art Thou?
History makes no mention of what was one of the most popular all-female country acts ever. Yet the story of the Goree Girls—inmates who banded together in the forties at Texas’ sole penitentiary for women—is worth a listen.
Being Texan
January 20, 2013
Jailhouse Flock
What is ex–football star Bill Glass’s plan for reforming hardened prison inmates? God is in the details.
Food & Drink
December 7, 2011
Woman Fights for Three Meals a Day in Prisons
An Austin woman worried about the health of her father, an inmate at the Eastham Unit, is petitioning the prisons to feed inmates three meals every day.
News & Politics
August 1, 2009
Sex, Lies, and Videotapes
The Texas attorney general takes a second look at the Mineola child sex ring cases.
News & Politics
February 1, 2008
The Gritty Truth
A criminal justice reform activist in Texas on overcrowded prisons, Tulia, the Texas Youth Commission, and the criminalization of mental illness.
News & Politics
February 1, 1999
The Getaway
There’s something romantic about a jailbreak, even when the escapee is a cold-blooded killer on death row. That’s why our feelings about Martin Gurule were more than a little complicated.
Health
May 31, 1998
Rx for Scandal
The poor quality of health care in the state’s penal system is enough to make you sick. Plus: Inside Tex Moncrief’s IRS mess; a River Oaks bookie is tried for murder; UT’s writing program achieves Texas-size success; and things get woolly for thestate’s mohair producers.
News & Politics
November 1, 1997
Brute Causes
By now we know about Brazoria County— but is there violence in other Texas prisons and jails?
Politics & Policy
May 31, 1997
Cell-Out
A little-known financial institution could be the future of the war on poverty in Texas.
News & Politics
February 1, 1997
Guarded
Private prisons lock out the press.
News & Politics
September 30, 1996
Tough Love Story
How tough should our response to juvenile crime be? No less tough than it is now—but no tougher either.
Roar of the Crowd
June 30, 1996
Jailhouse Crock
The Texas prison mess gets messier. Plus: Taking up arms in defense of the B-1 bomber.
True Crime
April 30, 1996
The Great Texas Prison Mess
Something stinks in the Department of Criminal Justice, and it’s a lot more than VitaPro. A special report on the worst state scandal in decades.
News & Politics
January 1, 1996
Rush to Justice
Kim Wozencraft meant to spend her life putting drug pushers behind bars—until she became an addict. Now, more than a decade later, she’s fighting against the justice system she once embraced.
News & Politics
September 30, 1993
Manhunt at Menard Creek
The death of a thief in the Big Thicket has federal officials probing the conduct of local lawmen—and local lawmen complaining about a federal vendetta against the Texas prison system.
True Crime
July 31, 1991
A Guard in Gangland
Never before had a correctional officer been tried for the murder of an inmate—and never before had such chilling details been revealed about how our prisons really work.
News & Politics
April 30, 1985
How They Ruined Our Prisons
Before Ruiz v. Estelle, prisons in Texas were the safest, most productive, and most economical in the nation. Now—after costs have quadrupled—our prisons are the most dangerous in the U.S.
News & Politics
December 1, 1978
Hard Time
Ellis prison houses 2400 dangerous criminals, and it’s the safest place to live in Texas.
News & Politics
October 1, 1978
A Season in Hell
A few years ago guards ran the Rusk State Hospital for the criminally insane. Now sociopathic criminals rule the wards.
Sports
February 1, 1977
Stars and Stripes
The rodeo where it really doesn’t pay to win.
News & Politics
February 28, 1974
The Big House Goes Coed
The Federal prison in Fort Worth is unique in more ways than one.