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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

Inside this month's print issue

COVID-19 Robbed Me of the Joys of Teaching

I thought remote instruction during the pandemic would be the worst of it. I was wrong.

Keep Reading

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