For those who don't know, we proposed two laws during the 81st legislature...and through hard work and an awesome alliance, we got them passed and the Governor signed them. So, as of September 1, these bills are now law:Read more

• HB 3653: requires all county and state facilities to STOP SHACKLING women inmates during labor and delivery;
• HB 3654: changed Jail Standards by now requiring county jails to have a MEDICAL CARE plan for pregnant women and also requires them to COUNT the number of pregnant women they are holding.

I would like you and/or your group to know about this important hearing and to please consider joining me at the Court of Criminal Appeals, October 21 (see details below). All of us who are concerned about civil rights and the rights of pregnant women in particular should be there.

Texas Jail Project is one of 52 groups, experts and advocates, from Texas and the U.S., that joined in signing the amicus brief for Amber Lovill's case.

This email is from our friends and allies at the National Advocates for Pregnant Women.Read more

An Abilene woman steps up and speaks out in this remarkable video clip at a gathering to protest conditions in the Taylor County Jail.

From The Lance Reports:

Lisa Mijares claims to have given birth to her son three years ago in the Taylor County Jail in Abilene, TX. After allerting correctional staff that she was in labor, her request for help was reportedly ignored.Read more

The Texas Jail Project and the ACLU of Texas are working with a coalition of advocates on two bills before the current legislature:Read more

• HB 3653: requires all county and state facilities to LIMIT SHACKLING of women during labor and delivery;
• HB 3654: requires county jails to plan their MEDICAL CARE of pregnant women and also requires them to COUNT the number of pregnant women they are holding.

We cannot name the person or the county in this report because we need to protect the privacy and safety of the inmate and her family who shared her story with TJP.

Earlier this month, 18 year-old Jessica B. was arrested for violating her probation, resulting in a six-month sentence. At the time of her arrest she was three months pregnant, and she told the guards that. The jail was also aware that Jessica B. was diagnosed as a person with bi-polar disorder and schizophrenia. Jessica asked to see an obstetrician, but jail staff told her no.Read more

It started when Juana Villegas, an illegal immigrant from Mexico who was nine months pregnant, was pulled over by a police officer in a Nashville suburb for a routine traffic violation.

By the time Mrs. Villegas was released from the county jail six days later, she had gone through labor with a sheriff’s officer standing guard in her hospital room, where one of her feet was cuffed to the bed most of the time. County officers barred her from seeing or speaking with her husband.

After she was discharged from the hospital, Mrs. Villegas was separated from her nursing infant for two days and barred from taking a breast pump into the jail, her lawyer and a doctor familiar with the case said. Her breasts became infected, and the newborn boy developed jaundice, they said.Read more