Texas Set to Execute Fourth Person of the Year on Tuesday
Matthew Johnson was convicted of the 2012 murder of Nancy Harris in Dallas County.
TDCJ
Waiting Out the Storm in Prison
Incarcerated Texans describe conditions in prison following Hurricane Beryl.
Texas Plans to Execute Man After Courts Refuse DNA Tests
Ruben Gutierrez was convicted of murder in 1999 under Texas’ “Law of Parties.” He says he had nothing to do with the killing.
Texas’ Plantation Prisons: Inside a 200-Year History of Forced Labor Shrouded in Secrecy
Punishments, injuries, and deaths—including from heat—on TDCJ farms are more hidden than they were in the years following convict leasing.
Taking Prison to Court: Fighting for the Right to Sleep
Michael Garrett sued the Texas Department of Criminal Justice more than a decade ago, and he’s working from inside to keep the case alive.
Finding God, Asking State to Find Mercy on Death Row
Ramiro Gonzales will be put to death next Wednesday, unless the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles recommends clemency.
Powerful Words from Texans Trapped in Solitary Confinement
Texas disappears more people in long-term solitary cells than all other states and the federal system combined.
SIGN UP FOR TEXAS OBSERVER EMAILS
‘There Have to Be Limits’: Lawsuit Urges Scorching Prisons to Cool Down
New plaintiffs have expanded a 2023 lawsuit against TDCJ, accusing the agency of “cooking [prisoners] to death."
Some Texas Prisoners Allowed Only Four Hours of Sleep a Night, Lawsuit Says
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a man incarcerated at the Estelle Unit who has been suing over his sleep schedule for a decade.
The Prison Inside Prison
Texas has banished hundreds of prisoners to more than a decade of solitary confinement. Many of these prisoners aren’t sure how—or, in some cases, if—they will ever get out.