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Polunsky Unit

Benito Alonzo, inmate at the Polunsky Unit

The 10 Best Observer Stories of 2016: ‘No Place for Old Men’

Texas prisons are filling up with the old and the ill — at enormous expense.

by Forrest Wilder

Keep Reading

No Place for Old Men

by Dick J. Reavis

Letters from Death Row: The Biology of Trauma

by Alex Hannaford

Letters from Death Row: Faith Behind Bars

by Alex Hannaford

Mar 16, 2015

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.

by Alex Hannaford

Jan 09, 2015

Letters from Death Row: Books Behind Bars

by Alex Hannaford

Solitary Men

Does prolonged isolation drive death row prisoners insane?

by Dave Mann

Wearing a white suit jacket over a dark sweater, Angela Paxton sits in a chair in the Texas senate with a pensive expression.

Inside this month's print issue

The Rise of Ma and Pa Paxton?

If history repeats itself, the attorney general's wife could prosper even if he goes down in an impeachment trial.

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