Krishnaveni Gundu
Co-Founder & Executive Director
About Texas Jail Project
Challenging mass incarceration at its front door: the county jail.
Our Mission
Texas Jail Project’s mission is to liberate communities by organizing with, and advocating for, people incarcerated in Texas county jails and their loved ones.
Our Vision
Texas Jail Project envisions a world where communities of care replace systems of punishment.
Our Work
- Individual-level case intervention, crisis response, & participatory defense
- Democratizing information by aggregating and disseminating advocacy resources
- Disbursing monetary direct aid at scale to incarcerated people and their loved ones
Organizing
- Building community power to advance grassroots campaigns around jail conditions, custody deaths, county policies, & local budgets
- Training, organizing, and facilitating community testimonies
Policy
- Monitoring, documenting, and reporting on jail conditions
- Authoring legislation and advising lawmakers on jail and pretrial issues
- Advocating for policies that mitigate jail harm and advance public health
Storytelling
- Collaborating with incarcerated communities on press interviews, op-eds, writing workshops, testimonials, and storytelling projects
- Catalyzing narrative change to redefine public safety by pitching, placing, and framing media coverage
Our Values
We believe…
- Every life deserves dignity, safety, and value.
- Authentic representation and storytelling are respectful and impactful.
- Racism and ableism are inherent to the status quo of Texas’ criminal legal system; our work requires the pursuit of anti-ableist, Black liberation.
- Public health and public safety are inextricably linked.
- All movements for justice are inherently connected.
- It may take lifetimes to dismantle centuries of harm, so we are unflagging in our commitment.
- We owe it to ourselves and our communities to hold each other, and state actors, accountable for harm.
- All community members deserve equal access to participation, requiring us to break down barriers to accessibility.
- Our team can and will work in smart, kind, and sustainable ways.
Effective Strategies for Community Safety
Studies show that healthcare, housing, addiction treatment, mental health support, and guaranteed basic income are all more effective for building community safety than more policing and prisons.
Learn more about alternatives to investments in jails