Shaking Up Texas Commission on Jail Standards
This year we ramped up organizing impacted families and allies in advocating their demands directly with policymakers and oversight agencies. In February, we mobilized attendance of community members and media for a packed quarterly meeting at the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). Families, faith leaders and advocates testified powerfully on the in-custody deaths and torture of their loved ones in cages, capturing the entire room’s attention even after walking out. The whole day demonstrated the strength of our communities in solidarity.
Families from different counties shared their stories and built deep camaraderie. The experiences they detailed in their testimonies shook commissioners so profoundly, the TCJS director invited the families and our team for a private conversation to address individual cases. We held a press conference outside the TCJS meeting, reinforcing the need for preventive, front end robust investments in public health as the key to public safety. We duplicated the showing for the third quarterly meeting of the TCJS in August, turning out over 60 people between the two events.
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Winter 2022
We were so hard at work in 2022 that we dropped the ball on sending a winter update! However, we are exceptionally proud of what we accomplished – from our national media storm, to our community safety campaign, to our policy-in-practice work – and our many collaborations with impacted families!
For a more detailed update, check out our
Winter 2022 Newsletter
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Vigils Light a Fire
We have been organizing vigils that have lit a fire in the fight for justice! These events have facilitated powerful meetings between impacted families, and clear connections that the deaths of their loved ones are not anomalies but indicting accounts of a cruel, larger system. Families have taken charge to speak out and lead. And the inextinguishable spirit of these mothers – for both their loved ones and those still living – have activated allies, deepened engagement, grown our movement, and kindled our communities’ hope for change.
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Families’ Joint Demands
Harris County Commissioners Court holds power and discretion over multiple players and resources responsible for the deadly Harris County criminal punishment system. This August we organized a joint letter from multiple families to the Commissioners Court, detailing their family’s jail stories and demanding immediate action on the human rights abuses there. We organized the co-signing of 7 major Texas organizations on jail justice in solidarity with the families, garnering them a wave of public support.
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Pregnant in Jail, Medical Neglect
We have been pushing the conversation on public safety to include our loved ones who are rendered invisible when in cages and endure long term trauma post release. We published an op-ed for Teen Vogue with co-author Amy Growcock, detailing the gross medical negligence she experienced while undergoing labor and delivery in Harris County Jail. Our essay in The Appeal further portrays the futility of reforms against a deeply intrinsic culture and pattern of systemic abuses enacted against pregnant people, by amplifying the stories of many more survivors we have worked with.
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Legislative Session Wins & Gains
Our fight this legislative session yielded multiple wins in bills related to mental health, disability rights, and cash bail. We worked in collaboration with heavyweight organizations, made moves as part of statewide coalitions, and brought in people who have been impacted to testify at the legislature. The sum amount of that led to successes in:
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- The defeat of SB 1318 & SJR 44, harmful proposals that would have radically expanded pretrial incarceration without bail;
- The inclusion of Rider 35 in SB 1146 to ensure the continuity of medications for people transferring back from state hospitals to county jails post competency restoration (and to end the cycle of people “losing competency” as a result of not receiving prescribed medication);
- The passing of SB 1677 to require jail diversion centers in certain Local Mental Health Authority service areas;
- The passing of SB 26 which mandates our priority of an independent audit of local forensic waitlists and mental health services by the Office of the Inspector General (for a clearer account of why so many with mental illness end up in county jails and on the forensic waitlist);
- The passing of SB 944, thanks to essential testimony by our community member Tracy Williams (testimony timestamp 3:23:14), which gives guardians of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities(I/DD), an option to divert their loved ones with acute needs, to State Supported Living Centers rather than being criminalized for their disability, and
- Increased support from legislators on establishing a medical liaison in county jails, which did not pass this time but primes our renewed push next session.
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Watchdog: Proper Accounting of In-Custody Deaths
Texas county jails have already claimed at least 110 lives this year and are on a devastating track to match or exceed last year’s in-custody death numbers. Yet the true count is obscured by some jails that hide deaths. We have been taking these jails to task. And by direct request, we have succeeded in compelling five jails to report previously unreported custody deaths and one jail to admit on record that they issued unsigned PR bonds to two people, after transferring them to the hospital as they were dying.
Our watchdog efforts have ensured that 5 additional deaths are now being appropriately accounted for in records to the Texas Attorney General, and thereby national data. As a result of this reporting, these deaths will now have to be officially investigated by an independent law enforcement agency, thus giving grieving families an opportunity for legal recourse.
Increasing Scrutiny of Overcrowded Jails
In Harris County Jail alone, there have already been 15 deaths this year after a record 28 last year. Despite the grievous number and counting, it has been our political education and advocacy work that’s brought greater media coverage and deeper investigations into HCJ’s abuses, and a more accurate portrait of those affected. From oversight agencies, to media, to allies, to community members – all have now turned high alert to the players and policies we’ve been pointing to.
The Harris County Commissioners Court now requires the Sheriff’s Office to provide immediate written notification of in-custody deaths after repeatedly learning of fatalities only through us exposing them.
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Community Voices
Give it up for Kevin Garrett!
Kevin was previously on staff with us as our Hogg Foundation Peer Policy Fellow. His personal experience of incarceration and being unhoused became his impetus for law school, and we are extremely proud to have supported him in his three year uphill battle to practice law. As of this spring, Kevin is officially serving as an attorney at the Travis County Public Defender’s Office in Austin! Check out Kevin’s story in his own words.
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Toolkits & Resources
Check out our new website! We’ve re-organized our different strains of work and resources to make it easier for families, researchers, and journalists to find what you need. We are especially proud of our non-compliant jails page where we maintain historical records of failed inspection reports for public use and access.
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Public Education & Engagement
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Understanding Bail Reform
Looking for a breakdown of all the legal jargon surrounding bail issues and how current policies actually play out? The Center for Journalism has developed a comprehensive explainer around common questions where we’re proud to be listed as Texas’s go-to source! To learn more, head to: Bail Reform: What to Know and Where to Go for More
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Hold Your Mental Health Authority Accountable
Tired of hearing about people in your community with mental illness being arrested and jailed? Your Local Mental Health Authority is responsible for evaluating and providing services to your community. Show up to their board meetings and hold them accountable! Our recent engagement at Smith County’s Andrews Center through public comment alone was enough pressure to influence important process changes.
You can help stop the criminalization of our community members with mental illness and intellectual and developmental disabilities!
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Hold Your District Attorney Accountable
Did you know the District Attorney has high discretion in which cases to prosecute, divert, dismiss, or charge? Our work in Harris County has traced the surging number of pretrial deaths to the persistent overcrowding of jails as a direct result of the DA overcharging individuals. (And the death count has not improved by their “solution” to outsource people to other jails at taxpayers’ expense of $39 million/year!) With elections coming up, make sure to check your DA’s record. Join us in pushing for better discretion of cases they target and an immediate release of all others.
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“The challenge these days, is to be somewhere, to belong to some particular place, invest oneself in it, draw strength and courage from it, to dwell in a community.”
bell hooks
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Direct Aid & Accompaniment Care
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Black Lives Matter
Fund
$20,723
Raised
18 People
Impacted
Completed June 2023
Funds fully disbursed
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Mothers Solidarity Fund
$12,196
Raised
8 People
Impacted
Still going!
Consider contributing!
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Torch of Liberty Award
In May, Krish was awarded the Torch of Liberty Award by the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, the largest defense bar in the country. This honor validates the efficacy of our work in legal spaces and has platformed us for further impact with Public Defender’s Offices.
(Krish with defense attorney Allison Mathis who nominated her for the award.)
Strategic Plan
We recently completed our 5-year strategic plan. After extensive work, we managed to weave together the diverse concerns of our staff, community, donors, and board into cohesive goals for our upcoming years. We are glad to say the process has been clarifying for our organization on how to better track and articulate our mission and operations.
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