Tag Archives: Death Penalty
Social Media Ban Could Curb Free Speech Behind Bars
Prison reform activists say a new social media policy inside Texas prisons could keep both prisoners and advocates from talking about life on the inside....Read More
The Draw of Death Row
With “dark tourism” on the rise, Huntsville’s prison museum is thriving.
The gift shop offers shirts honoring the electric chair: "Home of Old Sparky," and the museum's visitors get a 'selectively edited' history of corrections....Read More
State of Texas: Who We Kill
According to data collected by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, an unsurprising trend has emerged among death row inmates, the majority of whom are bla...Read More
The Moral Indefensibility of Death Row
Alex Hannaford’s cover story this month shows an alarming correlation between trauma that happens to adolescent boys, the biological damage it does to their b...Read More
Letters from Death Row: The Biology of Trauma
New studies show that trauma biologically alters the brains of young boys in ways that affect their adult behavior.
Texas executes more of its citizens—almost all of them men—than any other state. New studies show that trauma biologically alters the brains of young boys i...Read More
Letters from Death Row: Faith Behind Bars
An informal Observer survey finds complex religious beliefs among death row inmates.
Solitary confinement forces many inmates to do a lot of soul-seeking, but despite the misconceptions, not all death row inmates turn to religion for solace. In ...Read More
Letters from Death Row: Alone on the Inside
In an informal Observer survey, death row inmates describe a world of extreme isolation, where mental illness is both cause and symptom.
The Observer found that prisoners often choose a life of permanent isolation, refusing to leave their cages. It’s a catch-22: Mental illness can lead inmates ...Read More
Six Weeks Before a Scheduled Execution, Protesters Ask Abbott to Grant Clemency
Supporters continue to call for DNA testing in Rodney Reed's 1996 rape and murder case....Read More
Huntsville Redemption
On Wednesday, one more innocent man walked away from Texas' death row
Manuel Velez, sentenced to die in 2008 based on flawed science, stepped into the sun on Wednesday, free for the first time in years. ...Read More