Notorious Houston Serial Killer Requests Compassionate Release
Elmer Wayne Henley, Jr is currently serving six life sentences for participating in a murder, rape, and torture ring when he was a teenager.
Prisons
Will The Reckoning Over Racist Names Include These Prisons?
Many prisons, especially in the South, are named after racist officials and former plantations.
COVID-19 Has Delayed Programs That Texas Prisoners Need to Get Out
People approved for parole in the Texas prison system already waited months to start programs required for their release. Coronavirus is making some wait even longer.
Texas Health Officials Undercount COVID-19 Cases by Excluding Some Prisoners Who Tested Positive
The Observer identified at least nine Texas counties where current prison cases make up more than 10 percent of the total COVID-19 cases in the county.
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.
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‘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.