Texas Jail Project
Organizing with and advocating for people in county jails to build a world where healthy communities make jails obsolete.
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Events and Announcements
When They Jail Us, They Fail Us
240
County Jails
Confine more than 70,000 people per day, the highest pretrial jail population in history.
0
Days
Since the last jail death in custody. Most people who died in jail would still be alive if they had a few thousand dollars.
2.4K
People with Disabilities
Are waiting in jail up to 600 days for a psychiatric hospital bed. Meanwhile, Texas leads the nation in rural hospital closures.
What We Fight For
An end to mass incarceration
catalyzed by
an organized, loving resistance to pretrial detention.
Latest Press
Houston Chronicle: Harris County Jail fails another inspection as investigations continue + Full TCJS Report
Workforce shortages in the state psychiatric hospital system prolong jail time for mentally ill Texans
Storytelling Archives
Though published years apart, Texas Jail Project’s two standalone story projects each illustrate the boundless perseverance of community in the face of relentless cruelty.
Shedding Light
Produced in collaboration with Zealous and Civil Rights Corps, “Shedding Light’ is an intimate digital archive of over 100 interviews, essays, letters, poems, and accounts of people trapped in jail during the Covid-19 pandemic.
ExploreJailhouse Stories
With the support of Public Welfare Foundation and Nation Inside, “Jailhouse Stories,” launched in 2015. The project, collected and published over two years, carved space for families from 34 counties across Texas to memorialize, grieve, and process the loss of their loved ones in jail.
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Keep up with Texas Jail Project’s work in the community, courthouses, the Capitol, and everywhere in between.