Most Recent in Politics:

1As Fossil Fuel Industry Invests Billions in New Texas Facilities, it Could Unleash a Huge Emissions Bomb

2Loon Star: The Governor Shows His Concern for the Homeless

3The Internet Broke Democracy. To Fix It, Design for Human Rights.

4Ken Paxton Says New Anti-Abortion Law Bars State Employees from Donating to Planned Parenthood

5Hemp Snafu Offers Texas Cities a Way to Decriminalize Marijuana

6The Return of Karl Rove

Most Recent in Environment:

1As Fossil Fuel Industry Invests Billions in New Texas Facilities, it Could Unleash a Huge Emissions Bomb

2Trump Has Kneecapped Another Environmental Safeguard. Could That Spur Expanded Uranium Mining in South Texas?

3Five Times the Effects of Climate Change Loomed Over Texas in 2019

4The EPA Faces Lawsuit Over Slaughterhouse Pollution in Waterways

5Report: As TCEQ Sits Idle, Polluters Double Illegal Air Pollution in 2018

6Bald Eagle Numbers at Lake Buchanan Are Declining. No One’s Exactly Sure Why.

Most Recent in Border:

1‘Life is a Fight’: Scenes from a Migrant Tent Camp in Juárez

2A Radical Proposal Calls for a Moratorium on Deportations

3‘Baby Jails’ Chronicles America’s ‘Shameful’ Treatment of Migrant Kids

42020: The Year Trump’s Wall Rises or Falls

5Report: Sexual Assault is Common in Immigrant Prisons, but Survivors Aren’t Getting Help

6A World Without Immigrant Prisons

Most Recent in Criminal Justice:

15 Texas Criminal Justice Stories to Watch in 2020

2Report: Sexual Assault is Common in Immigrant Prisons, but Survivors Aren’t Getting Help

3In Dallas, Churches Break the Law to Shelter Homeless People on Freezing Nights

4Why a Small Offense Shouldn’t Have Life-Altering Consequence

5Federal Report Flags High Rates of Sexual Abuse in Texas Juvenile Lockups

6A Top Cop Accused of Racism Forces Austin to Confront Bias in Law Enforcement

Most Recent in Education:

1‘Almost Akin to a Political Coup’: Houston Teachers Fight Back Against State Takeover of HISD

2The Creature of Martin Creek Lake Won’t Die

3The Cost of Carve-Outs

4Texas Legislature Improves Suicide Prevention in Schools, but Makes Little Progress for Adults

5Texas House Considers Free College For Students Experiencing Homelessness

6‘The Wolf is in the Henhouse’

Most Recent in Health Care:

1We Asked You About Health Care in Rural Texas. Here are Your Stories.

2How the San Antonio Police Are Rethinking Mental Health

3Ken Paxton Says New Anti-Abortion Law Bars State Employees from Donating to Planned Parenthood

4This West Texas Town is a Reproductive Health Void

5A Decade of Texas Health Care By The Numbers

6Everyone Wants to End Surprise Medical Billing in Texas, but No One Wants to Pay for It

Most Recent in The Interview:

1Texas Observer Founding Editor Ronnie Dugger Reflects on 65 Years of Publication

2How Katharine Hayhoe Stays Hopeful as the Planet Warms

3Author William Lopez on How Immigration Raids Inflict Long-Lasting Trauma

4Why a Texas Gun Control Activist is Optimistic About the Chances for Reform

5American Health Care is Broken, Especially in Texas. What Can We Do About It?

6Thousands of Rape Kits in Texas Went Untested For Years. Lavinia Masters Is Ending That.

Most Recent in Books:

1The Internet Broke Democracy. To Fix It, Design for Human Rights.

2The 30 Best Texas Books of The Decade, from Amarillo to Utopia

3A World Without Immigrant Prisons

4Two New Books Explore the Limits of the #MeToo Movement in Texas and Beyond

5I’ve Lived in East Austin for 60 Years, and I Don’t Recognize it Anymore

6American Cities Weren’t Revitalized by the White ‘Creative Class.’ Immigrants Made Them Great.

Most Recent in Features:

1The Ghosts of Jefferson

2Little Arthouse on the Prairie

3The Clothes that Make the Man

4Washington Crossing the Rio Grande

5Ghosts of the Baker Hotel

6At Home in the World

Most Recent in Essay:

1‘Cheer’ Takes an Overlooked Sport Off the Sidelines

2Governor Abbott’s Campaign Against the Homeless Isn’t Just Cruel—It’s Dangerous

3Why a Small Offense Shouldn’t Have Life-Altering Consequence

4Why I Started a Book Club in the Harris County Jail

5A Chain Reaction

6Having My Period in Prison Was Awful. In Texas, That May Finally Change.

Most Recent in Eye on Texas:

1Eye on Texas: The Broken Wheel Ranch Project

2Eye on Texas: Spike Johnston

3Eye on Texas: Loren Elliott

4Eye on Texas: Charlotte Moore

5Eye on Texas: ‘My Joyful Dance’

6Eye on Texas: Ghosts of the City

Most Recent in Poetry:

1Author Saeed Jones on Empathy, the Power of Memoir, and Growing up Gay in North Texas

2Remembering W.S. Merwin, Honorary Texan

3Lost in Limbo in the Hays County Jail

4Houston Poet Analicia Sotelo’s Debut Smashes Latino Stereotypes

5Parallel Planes

Tag Archives: TDCJ

by Michael Barajas

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.

Wed, Oct 10, 2018 |

The growing bipartisan consensus around solitary confinement — that it’s inhumane and overused across the criminal justice system — has led to its sharp d...Read More

by Jorge Antonio Renaud

The Road to Huntsville

My days on "the chain" — the prison bus to Huntsville — are long over, but they're still with me.

Tue, Sep 12, 2017 |

My days on "the chain" — the prison bus to Huntsville — are long over, but they're still with me....Read More

Accounts that appear to belong to Texas correctional officers posted violent and transphobic comments to a September Observer story about an incarcerated trans woman.

UPDATED: Online Posts Appear to Show TDCJ Officers Encouraging Violence Against Trans Prisoner

Comments on a September Observer article include ‘one to the back of the head.'

Mon, Oct 10, 2016 |

Comments on a September Observer article include ‘one to the back of the head,’ and ‘let the f-cker suffer.’ ...Read More

Vanessa Lynn Harris described the judge's decision to dismiss her civil rights complaint was "emotionally devastating."

Texas Judge Dismisses Trans Prisoner’s Lawsuit Seeking Gender Confirmation Surgery

Thu, Sep 15, 2016 |

Vanessa Lynn Gibson said that "the reality of the situation is emotionally devastating, and I won’t lie, I was so mad I couldn’t stop crying."...Read More

by Alex Hannaford

Prison Guard Union Calls on Texas to Curtail Solitary Confinement on Death Row

Tue, Jan 28, 2014 |

Texas’ largest prison guard union is calling for a partial end to the controversial use of solitary confinement on death row. ...Read More

pigs

TDCJ Pork Story Undercooked

Wed, Aug 21, 2013 |

While news that TDCJ is spending $750,000 on climate-controlled swine barns is catchy, it ignores the real story....Read More

Death at Dawson: Why Is Texas’ Worst State Jail Still Open?

Tue, Feb 26, 2013 |

Horrific stories of medical neglect continue to emerge from Dallas's privately run Dawson State Jail. As damning reports are released one after another, a bipar...Read More

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