Earlier this year, a 22 year old graduate student named Kristina Sadler, working on her Masters in Social Work at the University of Houston, found herself thinking about the plight of pregnant inmates in the county jails of Texas. Not prisons, but county jails where a majority of the population is pre-trial detainees. In particular, most women detainees are in there for minor misdemeanors related to poverty, substance abuse/possession or mental health issues. Rarely for violent crimes.

Alycia Welch MPAff, MSSW
This reports investigates the failures of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office (HCSO) in relation to hundreds of jail deaths that occurred to predominantly pre-trial inmates. This agency analysis focuses on the failures of the HCSO to provide adequate medical care to inmates and suggests potential reforms for ensuring access by the inmates to adequate care. The report also examines the administrative and management issues contributing to the health consequences on inmates due to inadequate medical care, including deficiencies in staff training and the reliance on an outdated tracking system.

In North Carolina, the Ban the Box campaign—removing questions about conviction history from initial job applications– is producing good results, both for the counties and for people who have served their time and want to work. We need to see more of this in Texas! Reported by a great newsletter produced by California advocates at Legal Services for Prisoners with Children.

The new study about Harris County is revealing:
First-time felony offenders who were unable to post bond spent an average of 68 days in jail before having their cases resolved, the study showed. Those who remained jailed for drug possession – a common charge among Harris County jail inmates – were much less likely to win dismissals or deferred prosecutions than those able to afford to bail out, the study showed.
“Regardless of age, ethnicity or color of skin of over 90,000 people annually arrested, what generally determines the defendants’ fate is his or her economic status,” Wheeler argues in the report …

Yana Kunichoff | 11.02.11 | The American Independent The inmate population in the United States has grown steadily over the past fifteen years, increasing by 49.6 percent, while the proportion of those prisoners in private prisons has exploded -– according to the Justice Policy Institute’s analysis of federal statistics; the number of people in privately-run

Yana Kunichoff | 11.02.11 | The American Independent The inmate population in the United States has grown steadily over the past fifteen years, increasing by 49.6 percent, while the proportion of those prisoners in private prisons has exploded -– according to the Justice Policy Institute’s analysis of federal statistics; the number of people in privately-run

TJP says it’s about time! Thanks to Razor Wire Women for this posting.
A coalition of prison family members and representatives of secular and faith based organizations serving prison families from across the United States in attendance at the 2012 National Prisoner’s Family Conference affirmed the following

Journalist Leonard Sipes Jr. cites revealing numbers about women inmates in Texas jails, in his report about incarcerated women.”In Texas, women were more likely than men to be clinically depressed, to have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder and to be diagnosed with lung disease and sexually transmitted diseases. “

by: Rania Khalek, AlterNet | Report, Tuesday November 29, 2011 The private prison system has rebounded, growing dramatically, and making big bucks with huge help from the Feds, as large numbers of immigrants are incarcerated. “The United States, with just 5 percent of the world’s population, currently holds 25 percent of the world’s prisoners, and for the last

The sheriff gets to decide what projects to do with the inmate commissary funds. Here is the summary: A county sheriff controls the county jail commissary fund, and as a result, the sheriff must make the initial determination, subject to judicial review, as to whether proceeds from the fund may be used for particular purposes.