The latest criminal justice news from The Texas Tribune.
Chaplains have been a part of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice since at least 1910, providing spiritual guidance and programs. Under the proposed House budget, all 121 Texas prison chaplains would lose their jobs. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/_KCB8927.jpg)
Organizations that provide legal services to those who can't afford them are quickly running out of money even as the need for their help is increasing, advocates said Wednesday at a press conference. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/2016/05/03/ScalesofJustice.jpg)
Today, a week before his son is scheduled to die, Columbus Adams and a host of religious leaders asked the state to forgive Timothy Adams. His son, he said, never committed a crime before the day he lost control during an argument with his wife and killed their son. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/timothy_wayne_adams_2.jpg)
State Rep. Van Taylor, R-Plano, has filed legislation to allow licensed handgun owners to carry concealed weapons on community college campuses. But some campus police fear it could actually put students and faculty in more danger. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/HandGuns.jpg)
Texas' superlatives are nothing to brag about, according to the fifth edition of "Texas on the Brink," an annual review that ranks the state on dozens of factors ranging from health insurance to voter turnout. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TexasOnTheBrink.jpg)
Amy Lynn Cowling's death is just the most recent at the Gregg County Jail in Longview. Interviews and public documents reveal a troubled facility, where the staff turnover rate is unusually high and inmates report shoddy medical care. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/TxTrib-Gregg-CR024.jpg)
Amy Lynn Cowling died on Dec. 29, 2010 in the Gregg County Jail. Her family is outraged over the treatment she received there, but jail officials say Cowling's unfortunate death was not their fault. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/Cowling_mom.png)
How did the candidates on the ballot last year compare in their political spending on advertising, polling and staff? Use our interactive bubble chart to explore category data released recently by the Texas Ethics Commission. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/spending-bubbles-totals.PNG)
Health care in Texas prisons is already so abysmal it borders on being unconstitutional, according to a report released today by the Texas Civil Rights Project. The cuts lawmakers are now considering, they said, will almost certainly spark lawsuits that could cost Texas more money than it would spend to simply improve the system. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/prisoners_CM.jpg)
He was an Army veteran and a Houston security guard who had never been arrested until February 2002, when a fight with his wife sent Timothy Adams into a suicidal spiral. During a stand-off with police, Adams fatally shot his 19-month-old son twice in the chest — landing him a spot on death row. Full Story
Under the proposed legislation, teens caught "sexting" could face up to a Class A Misdemeanor. Parents could also face penalties. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/videos/Screen_shot_2011-02-07_at_3.13.48_PM.png)
"Sexting" — sending or receiving pornographic images via cell phones — should be a criminal offense for teenagers, say Attorney General Greg Abbott and Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/CollegeStudents.png)
Texas has enough supplies of a key drug to carry out only two more executions. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is exploring its options, including what other states are doing. But the drug alternatives are limited and would most likely still leave Texas reliant on nations that oppose the death penalty. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/syringes0001.png)
Before prison officials administer the lethal cocktail of drugs used to carry out executions, the condemned may say their final piece. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice keeps a record of these last statements. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/LastWords.png)
The short answer is yes — and no. It's still around, and would work if it was plugged in. But it can't be used for executions in Texas anymore. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/OldSparky002.jpg)
Slashing funds for community-based mental health care will hurt taxpayers and degrade the quality of life for thousands of mentally ill Texans and their families, Harris County Jail officials told Texas budget writers today in written testimony for the Senate Finance Committee. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Overcrowded-Prisons.png)
House and Senate budget writers have proposed closing a little-known state agency that helps prevent and solve automobile theft and burglary. The catch? While they’re planning to kill the agency, they're not planning to stop collecting the fee you pay to keep it going. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/AutoTheftRate.011.png)
In police departments across Texas, tens of thousands of rape kits have been sitting on the shelves of property storage rooms for years — thanks to strained budgets, overworked crime labs and a law enforcement philosophy that such kits are primarily useful as evidence if a stranger committed the assault. Victims’ rights advocates and some lawmakers say they'll work to pass legislation this year to take that evidence out of storage and create a DNA database that would help track rapists and perhaps even identify those who have been wrongly convicted. "I think we owe it to every person who has been raped," says state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/RapeKit.jpg)
Criminal justice in Texas got a fourfold performance review from the Legislative Budget Board today. From incarceration projections to the cost per bed for prisoners, the board broke down the state's public safety performance in cold, hard numbers. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Jail-Crowding.jpg)
The Trib staff on the sweeping cuts in the proposed House budget, Grissom on what's lost and not found at the Department of Public Safety, Galbraith on the wind power conundrum, Hamilton on higher ed's pessimistic budget outlook, Stiles and Swicegood debut an incredibly useful bill tracker app, Ramsey interviews Rick Perry on the cusp of his second decade as governor, Aguilar on a Mexican journalist's quest for asylum in the U.S., Ramshaw on life expectancy along the border, M. Smith on the obstacles school districts face in laying off teachers and yours truly talks gambling and the Rainy Day Fund with state Rep. Jim Pitts: The best of our best from January 17 to 21, 2011. Full Story
/https://static.texastribune.org/media/images/Tribweek_01_17_2011.jpg)