IN HONOR OF MOTHER’S DAY, HERE IS A TRIBUTE BY LACEY, DAUGHTER OF AMY LYNN:

Tomorrow will be the second Mother’s Day spent without my beautiful Mama. There hasn’t been a day yet that I didn’t think about her and the wonderful memories she left behind. She was a beautiful person with a good heart and the best of intentions. If I knew then what I know now, I would’ve thanked her for the life she blessed me with as well as the unconditional love she had for me, my brother, and my sister. We miss you so much, Mom… I know if you were alive now, you’d be proud. With the love and support of each other… we’ve grown up alot. I just wish you were here to see…. I love you, and I know in my heart… I’ll see your beautiful face again oneday. ♥

Journalist Leonard Sipes Jr. cites revealing numbers about women inmates in Texas jails, in his report about incarcerated women.”In Texas, women were more likely than men to be clinically depressed, to have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder and to be diagnosed with lung disease and sexually transmitted diseases. “

Homeland Security is running detention centers where women of color are often neglected or even abused, according to reports coming in from northern Arizona. It may be connected to an openly racist and hostile law enforcement culture there, but some say Texas immigration facilities are treating pregnant inmates the same way.

About 500 pregnant women are incarcerated in Texas county jails each month. Some are only held there a few days, but others may be incarcerated for weeks and months and a number will deliver their babies while there.

Read this new story about the way many jails release people in the middle of the night, into dangerous situations. This is an issue that Texas Jail Project helped bring to the attention of lawmakers and the sheriffs and the public . . . .

HOUSTON — It was 1 a.m. when Acy Williams, a slight, 53-year-old homeless man, walked out of the Harris County Jail and onto the dark, desolate streets of downtown Houston. He wore plastic flip-flops, dingy scrubs and a black fedora. He had no money and no phone, and the Houston Metro buses ran infrequently at that late hour. He decided he would just have to walk several miles across the city to the spot in South Houston where he hoped his belongings were still safely stowed.

Listen to Diane at her most thoughtful and passionate, in early November, when she spoke to a diverse group of Austinites and out of towners. We thank Allan Campbell of KOOP radio for recording and posting this: http://www.archive.org/details/PeopleUnited-November122010

Rose was psychotic — thrashing on a gurney when she accidentally kicked an emergency services technician. Just like that, assault on a public servant — a felony. Rose suffers from bipolar disorder and has had 16 psychiatric hospitalizations since 1982, six of which were emergency detentions where police officers in other cities had taken her directly to a psychiatric facility instead of arresting her.

Brownsville, February 3, 2008, from Educator/Jail Chaplain Gail Hanson: Dear Texas Jail Project: I am amazed, pleased and proud of the way the newspaper & citizens of Brownsville have taken to heart last week’s Texas Jail Project editorial. See below for today’s excellent *editorial calling for change in all U.S. jails…Also, I’ve received several emails
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The names in the following article have been changed to protect the privacy of both the inmate it is about and the woman who shared it with Texas Jail Project. Last fall, Mary T. was temporarily jailed in Bell County on a charge related to her military service. Mary shared a cell with Jane, a
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Letter to TJP from former inmate Margie Snider, November 28, 2006 I was put in the Dallas County Jail on May 1st for Civil Contempt—for missing child support payments the previous year to my angry, rich ex-husband. Even though I was paying, with the money coming out of my payroll checks, the fact that I
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