Many of the readers from TJP have been following Carla's story and several have written to her. As a chaplain, I visited her weekly for two years in Cameron County Jail and I became her friend. Since I talk to her every week since she has been transferred, I wanted to give you an update. Carla has now been in jail for four years. She was taken to court nearly 30 times before her trial for murder only to be returned to her cell to wait again. She was found 'not guilty'.Read more

The tragic story of Carla Ramos continues—a travesty of justice that she has endured for more than three and a half years while her children grow up without her. She was found innocent of the capital murder charges by a jury of her peers in Brownsville and yet DA Villalobos continued to misrepresent the situation to the press and called for a mistrial.Read more

The Texas Jail Project is an all-volunteer group that formed two years ago to monitor the increasingly bad conditions in more than 260 county jails in Texas. The reports we've received on the treatment of women in the Cameron County Jail are some of the worst.

Most people find it easy to turn a blind eye to the misery of some stranger with a no-doubt unsavory past, so instead consider this information as being about your kid sister — the one who made the mistake of hanging out with the wrong people. Like most of her cellmates, Sis is in her early 20s, grew up near Brownsville, works a minimum-wage job and is the mother of two small children. She is not a murderer or terrorist.

When she was arrested, she was wearing a warm sweatshirt, but the staff immediately removed it; she received the standard thin uniform despite the bonechilling cold of the cells. No blanket. That day was one of many last year when the women's unit was "out of" blankets as well as soap, toothpaste and even toilet paper. While she eventually received toilet paper, staff informed her and the others that there were no hygiene supplies when monthly cycles occurred.Read more

I have been a chaplain at the Cameron County Women's Jail for nearly seven years. All that really means is that once a week I go for an hour to pray for anyone who wants prayer. Sometimes I meet with women privately for counseling and monthly I bring some of my students from Valley Christian High School to pray with me. My girls love the women and often end up singing to them and writing to them later.Read more