Listen to Diane at her most thoughtful and passionate, in early November, when she spoke to a diverse group of Austinites and out of towners. We thank Allan Campbell of KOOP radio for recording and posting this: http://www.archive.org/details/PeopleUnited-November122010

Rose was psychotic — thrashing on a gurney when she accidentally kicked an emergency services technician. Just like that, assault on a public servant — a felony. Rose suffers from bipolar disorder and has had 16 psychiatric hospitalizations since 1982, six of which were emergency detentions where police officers in other cities had taken her directly to a psychiatric facility instead of arresting her.

Jail is not meant to be a holiday, but one might expect to at least be treated as a human being. What I witnessed, during my time in the suicide watch section and in general population, was a nightmare, not just in terms of myself, but more in how I saw others treated. My first

Brownsville, February 3, 2008, from Educator/Jail Chaplain Gail Hanson: Dear Texas Jail Project: I am amazed, pleased and proud of the way the newspaper & citizens of Brownsville have taken to heart last week’s Texas Jail Project editorial. See below for today’s excellent *editorial calling for change in all U.S. jails…Also, I’ve received several emails

The names in the following article have been changed to protect the privacy of both the inmate it is about and the woman who shared it with Texas Jail Project. Last fall, Mary T. was temporarily jailed in Bell County on a charge related to her military service. Mary shared a cell with Jane, a

Letter to TJP from former inmate Margie Snider, November 28, 2006 I was put in the Dallas County Jail on May 1st for Civil Contempt—for missing child support payments the previous year to my angry, rich ex-husband. Even though I was paying, with the money coming out of my payroll checks, the fact that I