Igniting National Conscience on Texas Jail Deaths: Winter 2022 Newsletter

August 1, 2023

In the fall and winter of 2022, we turned out a media storm on the surging in-custody deaths in Harris County Jail and Texas at large. And we’re keeping the pressure on – working with national publications to expose these county jails for their dangerous conditions, falsified documentation, and abuse and death coverups (including those purposefully pushed outside of custodial liability and reporting). Our work has brought over a dozen stories to national, state, and local media. We’ve become a leading source for both journalists and families affected on Texas county jail issues, personal impact stories, and Harris County’s jail deaths. Read more about the issues we’ve been agitating.

Topics: Cash Bail, Custody Death, Jail Conditions, Mental Health, Pretrial Policy

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Igniting National Conscience on Texas Jail Deaths

Winter 2022 Newsletter

We have been turning out a media storm to the surging in-custody deaths in Harris County Jail and Texas at large. And we’re keeping the pressure on – working with national publications to expose these county jails for their dangerous conditions, falsified documentation, and abuse and death coverups (including those purposefully pushed outside of custodial liability and reporting). Our work has brought over a dozen stories to national, state, and local media. We’ve become a leading source for both journalists and families affected on Texas county jail issues, personal impact stories, and Harris County’s jail deaths. Read more about the issues we’ve been agitating:

Jail is a Death Sentence, New York Times
More Jails Become Death Traps, Democracy Now
Why Are In-Custody Deaths Surging at Houston’s Harris County Jail?, Slate
See more…

Organizing

Community Safety Agenda

In October, our Community Safety Agenda campaign yielded multiple wins! We packed the Harris County Commissioners Court with a broad cross-section of community members, professionals, and organizations; and we turned out over 340 public comments on more effective solutions to community safety than policing. While courtroom constables pushed back, mocked, and intimidated participants, our national allies amplified proceedings, exposing their hostility to viewers across the country. In contrast, our coalition demonstrated a wide intersectional response rooted in a positive vision of community invested in solutions that emphasize a holistic system of care. In the end, our campaign pulled off multiple budget wins: accountability for the county to limit citizenship inquiries in accordance with federal mandates and language accessibility!

Harris county is now the only county in the country to offer budget materials in Spanish and Vietnamese.

Policy & Accompaniment

Freedom Story Turned Birthing Story

“On a warm October morning, I was outside the Harris county jail with a teammate when B.M. was released. She looked visibly distressed and exhausted. She was 8 months pregnant and her water had broken just a couple of hours ago in the jail. Instead of rushing her to a hospital, the jail expedited her release without even letting her phone her family. Goldie acted swiftly.”

Every time I think I’ve seen it all, the criminal punishment system throws something new and more horrific our way.

– Goldie, TJP Client Advocate

Read the full story of B.M. and Goldie.

From Bills Passed to Real Practice

This winter we participated as the only non-governmental advocates in the Rule-making Workshop of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards. In this closed meeting, we were tasked with translating recently passed bills into rules that determine how they are practiced in actual jails with actual people. Our participation brought the community’s reality into the room and made us a force to be reckoned with! There are now twice the number of county jail grievances filed by incarcerated people from jails, as a direct result of our push at that table for jails to publicly display the grievance process. The Commission has come to deploy our watchdog efforts as the muscle against non-compliant sheriffs in the ongoing fight for accountability and better jail standards.

Federal Filing, Felony Bail Practices

Civil Rights Corps requested our expertise in their recent federal filing on felony bail practices in Harris County. Krish contributed a powerful declaration on conditions in Harris County Jail, by sharing the stories and letters of people we’ve supported in their own words. It was deeply cathartic and important for us to bring the narratives of our communities into influencing legislation and policy for our communities.

Narratives

Texas Tribune Festival

Sharing a panel with Supreme Court Chief Justice Nathan L. Hecht, Krish had the opportunity to address leading thinkers, change-makers, and industry leaders at this year’s Texas Tribune Festival. Sponsored by Arnold Ventures, a leading national funder on reducing criminal justice disparities, Krish spoke on the realities of our current cash bail system, especially for those with mental illness and disabilities, and the ways it actually undermines public safety.

Donate

Community Voices

We are both grieved and honored to support Kristina Salinas in writing this heartbreaking op-ed for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She shares how a call for medical help under the new Texas bail law landed her developmentally disabled sister Kelly in a medically-induced coma after days of abuse and neglect in Tarrant County police custody.

Public Education

National Jail Crisis Webinar

In November, our own Gabriela Barahona brought two impacted families to share a panel with her and fellow nationally renowned organizations – Civil Rights Corps and Vera Institute – about cash bail in the South and the subsequent overcrowding and deaths in jails. To learn more, watch the webinar recording: What is Going on in Our Jails?

Get Involved

www.texasjailproject.org | sheddinglight.in | jailhousestories.org

Texas Jail Project was formed in 2006 to call attention to the widespread abuse and neglect of some 65,000 women and men incarcerated in approximately 244 county jails in Texas. The mission of Texas Jail Project is to liberate communities by organizing with and advocating for people incarcerated in Texas county jails and their loved ones, with a vision to replace systems of punishment with communities of care.