Every ten years or so, Texas public agencies undergo review. The questions are: should the agency continue to exist? and if so in what form? This year the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is under review, as is the Parole Board, Managed Healthcare, and the Windham School District. The only public hearing during which stakeholders […]
Sunset Advisory Commission Read More »
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice needs structural transformation, as do the courts and the law. Here’s some of the evidence. TAKEAWAYS FROM ROBERSON HEARING: Robert Roberson was convicted of murder more than 20 years ago and was sentenced to death. He was scheduled to be executed in late November despite new evidence. The Parole
A TEMPORARY WIN FOR DEATH PENALTY OPPONENTS Read More »
People design prisons and can be changed by them. Accomplishing that requires an openness to innovation that is largely missing by correctional administrators. That cannot remain an obstacle to proposing changes to the prison environment that enable them to release people who are better off for having been inside the walls. Since momentum for humane
Normalization of the Prison Experience Read More »
This New York Times opinion piece focuses on one side of the punishment debate. Another is tom let the punishment fit the individual. Opinion guest essay Let the Punishment Fit the Crime Oct. 23, 2021 Credit…Eleni Kalorkoti Share full article By Ben Austen and Khalil Gibran Muhammad Mr. Austen is working on a book about crime, punishment
Let the Punishment Fit the Crime Read More »
FAIR PAROLE REVIEW? More than 40 years ago the Feds approach was PRESUMPTIVE PAROLE https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/presumptive-parole-dates-federal-approach Six years ago, Jorge Renaud provided an update in an article called “Eight Keys to Mercy”: How to shorten excessive sentences”: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/longsentences.html “Presumptive parole Presumptive parole is a system in which incarcerated individuals are released upon first becoming eligible for parole
FAIR PAROLE REVIEW IS POSSIBLE Read More »
And they plan on being heard! and they want to talk about Texas prisons. Twice a year the TBCJ allows public comments on non-agenda items. On 8-25-23 37 people signed up to talk for the allotted three minutes. Tona was one of them: https://www.facebook.com/maggie.luna.52/videos/166055919853434/?mibextid=SphRi8 Tammica is the other. Her son died as a correctional officer. She
These moms are outraged…… Read More »
The majority of prisons in the USA run on an outdated operating system. Innovation is possible. “In a recent interview, Norwegian prison governor Are Hoidal talked about how prisoners are punished in the country. “In Norway, the punishment is to take away someone’s liberty,” he said. “The other rights stay.” Norwegian prisoners have the right
INNOVATION IN PRISONS Read More »
Most prisons throughout the U.S. are understaffed. At least that’s what the conventional wisdom is. The consequences of understaffing are negative for everyone involved. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has attempted to solve the problem by increasing notoriously low wages. What they have thus far refused to do is to look at the prison
Prison Understaffing? Read More »
The Texas Civil Rights Project, along with other entities, recently released its 2023 report on solitary confinement in Texas. The picture is far from a pretty one. Along with the largest prison system in the country, Texas also has the largest number of individuals locked up in prisons within a prison. It’s not popular to
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT IN TEXAS Read More »
My re-involvement with what passes for a justice system began in 2013 when Aaron Dyson responded to a letter I wrote to the editor of the Austin American Statesman. He was released almost 2 1/2 years ago after our combined efforts opened the prison gates. That was not the end of his story. Here is
Another Step Towards Justice Read More »