This article points to shocking negligence of incarcerated women who find themselves pregnant – and not just in Texas. Rachel Roth precisely describes the many ways jail staff fail to recognize and deal with women’s special needs, especially when they ignore signs of labor which leads “to women giving birth locked in their cells without any assistance.” See the remarkably forthright Texan Lisa Mijares, who stepped up at a prayer vigil in Abilene to describe what she endured giving birth in her cell after begging for help: http://www.texasjailproject.org/2010/10/lisa-gave-birth-alone-in-taylor-county-cell/

Do killer jails exist in the great state of Texas today? If so, where?
If you talk to someone who’s been in the Gregg County Jail, they might say that jail is one because they will not help you if you are in withdrawal from either legally prescribed medication or a drug you’re addicted to.

by Brandi Grissom | 11/14/10
Click on the link for this important story that includes mention of the Texas Jail Project and quotes by our director:
http://www.texastribune.org/texas-state-agencies/state-commission-on-jail-standards/hundreds-die-of-illnesses-in-county-jails/
Even more awesome: the New York Times ran this story!

by Ginette Gosselin Ferszt, associate professor, University of Rhode Island Collegeof Nursing, in the American Journal of Nursing Approximately 6% of women who enter American jails and prisons are pregnant. Many of them will go through labor, childbirth, and recovery with shackles around their wrists, ankles, or both. Some will be transported to the hospital in

Four out of ten inmates in the El Paso County jails have some sort of a mental health issue, according to the county. Jesus Guiroga handles all of the intake and crisis services at El Paso Mental Health And Mental Retardation. He’s seen the mental health problem in the jails on a daily basis, but he said much of it can be prevented.

Recent findings by two separate review panels revealed that the Bexar County jail staff was not following state rules on inmate medical screenings, signaling troubling problems that must be addressed quickly.
Obtaining accurate medical information when a prisoner is jailed is vital to the efficient and safe operation of a detention facility.

http://www.sacurrent.com/blog/queblog.asp?perm=70184 Greg Harman, March 1st, 2010 If you’ve got a naturally sunny disposition (despite the long shadow of those prison bars falling on your shoulders), chances are you’ve got more room to roam on the inside of Bexar County Jail these days. You may even be tempted to crack open a $3.59 can of “no

Mr. Torres didn’t have to die like this. We feel for his family who tried so hard to get him medical help.

http://www.houstonpress.com/2009-11-19/news/jail-misery/ By Randall Patterson Published on November 17, 2009 at 1:53pm Monte Killian says he asked for his medication again and again for days to no avail. On the last day of July, months after quitting his job as a cook on an offshore oil rig, Monte Killian was tooling around the Fourth Ward in

by Gary Hunter (Prison Legal News) A random sampling of 2,000 prisoners in five county jails found that, on average, nearly 15 percent of male prisoners and 31 percent of female prisoners suffer from serious mental illness. The study was headed by Dr. Henry Steadman, Ph.D and Dr. Steven Samuels, Ph.D of Policy Research Associates