Parole & Reentry

Lioness Alliance raises awareness for inhumane prison conditions

KWTX screengrab. Nonprofit lights candles for inhumane prison conditions.

The Lioness Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance held a candlelight vigil to raise awareness for unsafe conditions in prison. Partnering with the Texas Statewide Leadership Council, individuals gathered at Raby Park in Gatesville at 8 to honor those who have lost their lives due to heat-related causes and to stand with those who they believe are suffering.

Read the rest of this article from KWTX.

Texas woman worried about boyfriend dying in prison due to heat

Screengrab from Spectrum news. Advocates for cooling Texas prisons construct a make-shift cell before a rally on the steps of the Texas Capitol, Tuesday, July 18, 2023, in Austin, Texas. The group is calling for an emergency special session to address the deadly heat effecting inmates. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

It’s a quiet morning in Houston as Rae Hoppe works remotely at home. As she types, she can’t help but think of her boyfriend, Charles Gholson, who’s in prison without air conditioning. “I think it’s inhumane,” Hoppe said. Hoppe is worried her partner will die during the heat wave. She says he wakes up in a puddle of sweat on a hot metal bed. 

Read the rest of this story from Spectrum News.

Texas prison population on the rise after pandemic lows

In this Jan. 5, 2012 photo, razor wire tops the fencing at the Polunsky Unit prison in Livingston, Texas. ( Bob Owen/Houston Chronicle via AP)

After a significant decline during the coronavirus pandemic, the number of people in Texas prisons has been on the rise in recent months and soon could cross the threshold of 130,000, according to state records. Officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice told the Chronicle the uptick had been expected, with prosecutors slowly moving forward with cases that stalled during the pandemic.

Read the rest of this story from the Houston Chronicle.

As Texas Prisons Move to Digitize Mail, Advocates Say Family Bonds Grow Weaker

A man writes letters to pen pals in prison, shown in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 12, 2011. Khampha Baouphanh—Fort Wort Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

Five years since her release, Maggie Luna has kept the mail she received from family during her two stints in Texas state prisons: drawings from her daughter, a letter from her niece, prayer cards from her mother. “It was something that I was able to open up while I was in prison and just be able to escape for a minute,” she says. But under a new program launching in some Texas facilities this week, prison mail is about to become less personal, as prisoners will no longer be allowed to receive any physical mail from loved ones.

Addressing the issue of benefits for almost 5K local vets

Bob Kane, Director of Veteran Services for Walker County, is a retired Desert Storm veteran.

There is no way to sugarcoat this - according to Texas Human and Health Services (THHS) in 2020, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs reported that 1.4 Texas veterans commit suicide every day, and 75 percent of those deaths involved a firearm. Last June, the state capitol took action on veteran suicide by signing HB-671 into law urging the Texas Veterans Commission (TVC) to adopt a suicide prevention campaign and shine the light on Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder (PTSD) driven suicides.

Texas Senate again approves increasing penalty for illegal voting to a felony, regardless of intent

College students begin to vote at Texas A&M International University. Jessica Nicole Rodriguez for The Texas Tribune

The Texas Senate on Wednesday got closer to raising the penalty for voting illegally from a misdemeanor to a felony, as well as making it easier to convict a voter without proving they intended to cast an illegal ballot. The legislation is a priority for Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and other Republican lawmakers who have pushed for it since the 2021 change lowering the penalty to a misdemeanor, despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Texas.

For the 78,000 people released from prisons in Texas every year, finding a job isn’t easy

Image via DMN of woman staring into distance

LaTosha Williams blocks a tear from slipping down her cheek as she walks toward a Cedar Crest apartment she rented nearly three decades ago. The two- story complex off Bonnie View Road in Dallas takes her back to when she was a young wife with four kids, selling drugs out of an upstairs unit. Williams, then 21, balanced two rents, leasing another home just minutes away on Humphrey Drive, where she and her family lived.

Change Can't Wait, Texas Is Overdue for Real Public Safety Solutions

Graphic via Texas Signal with Capitol, WTF TXLEGE, Move Texas and Signal logos

In the Lone Star State, a person’s path through the justice system is rarely guided by justice. It’s guided by politics. A young person of color fears when a police car follows them, knowing some police scour the streets looking for an excuse to turn on their red and blues. A person short on cash can’t make bail, calling the jail their temporary home – a rich person cuts a check and walks immediately.

Read the rest of this story from the Texas Signal.

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