I Left My Friends in Prison in a Pandemic. Here’s What It’s Like For Them.
I receive phone calls from distraught friends inside complaining of unbearable heat, uncontrollable outbreaks, and paltry diets.
Prisons
Texas Prisons Ban Greeting Cards, Expand Drug-Sniffing Dog Searches to Visitors
Families of prisoners and civil rights groups call the new policies arbitrary, punitive, and isolating for people behind bars.
Death in Solitary
Russell Johnson’s sister warned officials that nearly three years in solitary confinement had broken him. His suicide in isolation two months later points to compounded crises inside Texas prisons.
Death of Dog Trainer Highlights Strenuous Heat and Working Conditions at Texas Prisons
Seth Donnelly was one of the many inmates Texas prison officials use as prey for dog hunts. He died from heatstroke after collapsing on the job in Abilene.
‘The Penal System Today is Slavery’: Lawmakers Finally Start to Talk About Unpaid Labor in Texas Prisons
The 13th Amendment left a loophole for prisoners to be forced to work without pay. Texas remains one of five states that exploits the carveout for state profit.
Author Shane Bauer on How the Racist Roots of Private Prisons Still Permeate the System
“I was struggling with this feeling that I was becoming this different person in prison — a person I didn’t like.”
Texas Prisons Lead the Nation in Long-Term Solitary Confinement
Nearly a third of Texas prisoners in restrictive housing have been there for six years or longer, according to a new national survey.
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College Degree Options Are Disappearing for Women in Texas Prisons
In Texas, four-year degree programs for imprisoned women are expiring, even as more of them end up in the prison system.
New Report Finds — Surprise — Indigent Defense Attorneys Shouldn’t be Under the Control of the State Prison System
The Texas prison system controls an agency tasked with defending poor inmates accused of crimes inside Texas prisons. What could possibly go wrong?
The Road to Huntsville
My days on "the chain" — the prison bus to Huntsville — are long over, but they're still with me.