Locked Out

Visitation is a critical lifeline for incarcerated people, yet some families say Texas prison officials ban them from seeing loved ones over petty or unproven claims of misconduct.
by

Features

  • Dianne Gonsoulin Hastings, pictured outside her Austin home, spent decades looking for her sister Donna. by
    Criminal Justice

    The Disappeared

    Genetic genealogy is helping to crack cold cases and identify victims left nameless for decades. The process is surprisingly effective—and controversial.
  • Horses graze in front of the Polunsky Unit, outside of Livingston in East Texas. by
    Criminal Justice

    A Solitary Condition

    Texas has banished hundreds of prisoners to more than a decade of solitary confinement. Many of these prisoners aren’t sure how—or, in some cases, if—they will ever get out.
  • A gentrified street in East Austin. by
    News

    The Gentrification of Texas

    As the cost of housing skyrockets, Texans are getting pushed out and left behind. The stakes couldn’t be higher.
  • Bar-G Feedyard near Summerfield is part of a vast constellation of feedlots that dot the western Panhandle. by
    Environment

    Something in the Air

    In the Texas Panhandle, which produces a fifth of the U.S. beef supply, communities are being choked by fecal dust from nearby feedlots. The state’s regulatory agency isn’t doing anything about it—and it’s about to get a whole lot worse.

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