Monthly News Round-up November 2025
December 1, 2025
Read the highlights of Texas Jail Project news coverage below and click on the links to read the full articles. CBS: Texas woman shares violent video of jail experience Azellia…
Topics: 2025news, Cash Bail, Immigration, Medical, Mental Health, miscarriage, Overcrowding, Pregnancy, pregnant, Pretrial Policy, Suicide, TCJS, Use of Force
Read the highlights of Texas Jail Project news coverage below and click on the links to read the full articles.
CBS: Texas woman shares violent video of jail experience
Azellia Thompkins joined Texas Jail Project this month to testify at the Texas Commission on Jail Standards quarterly meeting in Austin.
After a routine traffic stop in Snyder, TX (Scurry County), Thompkins was arrested for an outstanding traffic ticket. Although traffic violations are non-arrestable offenses, failure to pay results in a warrant for arrest.
The anxiety medication she was prescribed in Scurry County Jail put her in a mental health crisis. She suggested there was a problem to the jail officers, but they did not address the issue. When she later attempted suicide, they responded with violence and deprivation. The full interaction was captured on a security camera.
When she was released from jail, she submitted complaints to various government agencies. All found “no wrongdoing” and “no violations of minimum jail standards.” All charges against Thompkins were later dismissed, but the damage remains.
“You can say all you want that you want to run it like a hospital, but we all know a jail is run by minimum standards,” said Gundu. “You can claim that you want to, but you don’t have to – there’s no one that’s going to hold you accountable. Because at the end of the day it’s a jail, and the buck stops with the sheriff.”
Proposition 3
Texas Jail Project was quoted in various articles discussing Prop 3, which passed during this election season. The constitutional amendment will increase overcrowding, extend pretrial detention, burden families economically and socially, and exacerbate the mental health crisis occurring in jails. Find more information about this in the Dallas Observer, KHOU, Houston Chronicle, Houston Press, and KTSM.
Pretrial liberty should be the norm. We’re going to make pretrial detention the norm with no impact on public safety. More affordable housing, wraparound services, substance use disorder treatment, crisis respite, crisis stabilization — a continuum of care for people who have cycled through for years.
TXAN 24: “Underground Railroad” of East Texas: A Modern Map of Immigration Enforcement
In East Texas, local law enforcement is working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through 287(g) agreements. These deals allow local sheriffs and jail officers to act as federal immigration agents. Each county operates under a different model, including Warrant Service Officer Model, Jail Enforcement Model, and Task Force Model.
We are seeing first hand our local law enforcement is colluding with ICE, these agreements sow distrust in our community and ripping families apart. We must continue to advocate against cruel enforcement policies and expose the fear-mongering for what it really is.
Houston Public Media: Judge opens door for Texas AG to argue why Harris County’s misdemeanor bail reform should end
In an article pitched by Texas Jail Project, Houston Public Media reports that U.S. District Court Judge Lee Rosenthal is giving Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton the opportunity to argue that new state laws could invalidate a the ODonnell Consent Decree. Since 2019, the Consent Decree has given most misdemeanor defendants in Harris County the opportunity to be released from jail before trial without first paying cash bail.
Full Article at Houston Public MediaNBC: ‘Why won’t you help me?’ Pregnant women and their babies endure inhumane conditions in jails
In this article and 17-minute documentary, NBC describes the story of Chasity Congious, who gave birth alone in a Tarrant County jail cell. The baby, born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, died days later. The article and documentary are the result of an investigation of over 200,000 civil rights complaints around the country. They give a comprehensive depiction of the ways pregnant people in jails are ignored when they require medical attention and the grave consequences that result.
Full Article at NBC