Media spotlight: Vote NO on Prop 3 – “Bail Reform” is not a solution to public health crisis
October 31, 2025
Texas Observer: Bail Crackdown on Ballot Ignores Mental Health Crisis, Advocates Say This election, bail reform is on the ballot. Proposition 3 is a constitutional amendment that would require judges to…
Topics: 2025news, Cash Bail, Forensic Waitlist, Mental Health, Pretrial Policy, Texas Legislature
Texas Observer: Bail Crackdown on Ballot Ignores Mental Health Crisis, Advocates Say
This election, bail reform is on the ballot. Proposition 3 is a constitutional amendment that would require judges to deny bail to defendants accused of certain crimes punishable as a felony. Paul Barrows, interviewed by the Observer explained that, “The general public doesn’t always understand the ramifications of what they are voting for. All they see is the term ‘violent felonies,’ and I don’t think the public understands how that affects those with mental health issues.”
This constitutional amendment is up for a vote after Governor Abbott just recently signed a suite of laws that make it more difficult for people to get bail in June. Texas Jail Project Executive Director and Co-founder, Krish Gundu spoke to the Observer in advance of the election on November 4.
“We are opposed to Prop 3 because this is going to overload an already overburdened pre-trial detention system,” Gundu told the Observer. “Because of overcrowding, the jail system is already the largest warehouse of people with mental illness in the state of Texas. We cannot keep punishing our way out of this mental health crisis.”
Prop 3 and other “tough on crime bills” are a distraction, Gundu said, adding that state officials refuse to connect the dots between public safety and mental health because they don’t want to be in the business of managing long-term mental health care for the state’s most vulnerable population.
Read more about this issue in Houston Chronicle and KHOU11.