In The News

Private Prisons Hide Their Game

Jan 17th, 2012 | By

by: Rania Khalek, AlterNet | Report, Tuesday November 29, 2011 The private prison system has rebounded, growing dramatically, and making big bucks with huge help from the Feds, as large numbers of immigrants are incarcerated. “The United States, with just 5 percent of the world’s population, currently holds 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, and for the last
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Sheriff Can Use Commissary Fund for Whatever Projects He Wants!

Jan 13th, 2012 | By

The sheriff gets to decide what projects to do with the inmate commissary funds. Here is the summary: A county sheriff controls the county jail commissary fund, and as a result, the sheriff must make the initial determination, subject to judicial review, as to whether proceeds from the fund may be used for particular purposes.
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Harris County Sheriff and Houston Police Chief Speak Out!

Sep 20th, 2011 | By
Harris County Sheriff and Houston Police Chief Speak Out!

In recent years, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and the Houston Police Department have improved the way their officers deal with situations involving individuals with mental illness. We have refined and increased training on mental health issues. We have reformed our policies to ensure that we are better prepared to properly handle these encounters.
For its role in the implementation of the Chronic Consumer Stabilization Initiative, designed to help the chronic mentally ill . . . .



Villegas Wins Case After Being Shackled During Childbirth

Jun 2nd, 2011 | By

Via The Tennessean A federal judge has ruled in favor of a Nashville mother who triggered a national outcry after she was shackled during labor and after giving birth while in custody of the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office. U.S District Court Judge William Haynes Jr. will set a hearing for damages against Metro government and
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Jailed schizophrenic man released to mental institution

Feb 6th, 2011 | By

A severely schizophrenic man held in the Dallas County Jail for nearly a year was released Tuesday to a mental institution.
Nicholas Sauve was arrested for shoving his mother last June. He was sentenced in September to 45 days in jail for a mental evaluation and five years of probation. Time and again, he was slated for release, but he never got beyond his cell in the jail’s north tower.



Dallas County Jail: Resistance and a Lack of Accountability

Nov 28th, 2010 | By
Dallas County Jail: Resistance and a Lack of Accountability

By KEVIN KRAUSE / The Dallas Morning News /Saturday, November 27, 2010 When the Dallas County jails failed inspection for the seventh time last year, consultants brought in to fix the problem encountered a stressed-out and overworked Sheriff’s Department with a culture that resisted change and failed to hold its employees responsible for repeated problems,
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Harris County’s Jail-Population Growth Third In Nation, Study Finds

Nov 28th, 2010 | By

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2010/11/harris_county_jail_pew.php By Chris Vogel, Thu., Nov. 18 2010 @ 2:31PM Comments (18) ?In an era when locking fewer people up and spending less on jails seems to make sense and is rapidly becoming en vogue, Harris County was increasing its spending and putting more folks behind bars than nearly any other populous county in the
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Bus Company Gives Inmate Families a Way to Visit Prisons

Oct 28th, 2010 | By

http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/09/dallas-man-to-offer-prison-shu.html Michael Wren knows how much visitors mean to prison inmates. He’s been there, done that, having spent several years behind bars for aggravated robbery. But with the support of his mother, Wren turned his life around. Now the Dallasite wants to offer the same support to current inmates. Later this month his new business,
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In Potter County: Michael Dick’s Parents Sue the Jail

Oct 16th, 2010 | By

The parents of Michael Dick today filed a lawsuit against Potter County, several jailers and medical staff claiming they’re responsible for their son’s death while he was incarcerated last year. They claim their son, who was 33 at the time of his death, was denied proper medical care.



Shackling Women During Childbirth

Oct 3rd, 2010 | By

from Justice Fellowship, 2011          The practice of shackling—the placement of restraints or chains around ankles, waist and hands—usually happens when pregnant women are transported from one area to another, transferred to a new prison or taken to a hospital for medical care. A more egregious form of shackling is that during
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