When you turn off of Highway 71 onto Farm Road 973 it feels, for a moment, like you have finally reached the edge of Austin. The fields on your left open up into a dark green sea scattered with white and blue flowers that fade off into the hazy distance. On the right sits the Travis County Correctional Complex, an enormous, ominous-looking compound. The visitor’s parking lot was almost full at 8:30 AM on a Thursday morning in April, yet inside the room was empty except for a handful of guards joking with the receptionist. Huge ceilings, uniform plastic chairs, and huge signs listing the rules of visitation combined to create an unwelcoming feeling.Read more

The tragic story of Carla Ramos continues—a travesty of justice that she has endured for more than three and a half years while her children grow up without her. She was found innocent of the capital murder charges by a jury of her peers in Brownsville and yet DA Villalobos continued to misrepresent the situation to the press and called for a mistrial.Read more

The Texas Jail Project and the ACLU of Texas are working with a coalition of advocates on two bills before the current legislature:Read more

• HB 3653: requires all county and state facilities to LIMIT SHACKLING of women during labor and delivery;
• HB 3654: requires county jails to plan their MEDICAL CARE of pregnant women and also requires them to COUNT the number of pregnant women they are holding.

The TEXAS HELLHOLE AWARD was presented, October 15:

"In Sad Recognition of the TAYLOR COUNTY JAIL

.....which fails to provide a safe and humane environment for the fathers, mothers, wives, husbands, sons and daughters of Abilene who are incarcerated there."

Awarded by Diane Wilson and Diana Claitor co-founders of the Texas Jail Project Read more