Press Contact: For all media inquiries, please contact Madison Kaigh, Communications Manager, at mkaigh@TexasCJE.orgor (512) 441-8123, ext. 108.
AUSTIN (KXAN) -- The Travis County Commissioners Court voted Tuesday to ultimately postpone consideration to spend $97 million to build a new women's facility at the Travis County Correctional Complex (TCCC) and is expected to revisit the proposal in a year.
With the Houston City Council set to vote on proposed ordinances to overhaul regulations for boarding homes and other multi-resident housing, criminal justice reform advocates objected to a proposed 1,000 foot buffer zone for “alternative housing facilities,” saying it would make it harder to provide re-entry services.
The ACLU of Texas and seven other groups filed a complaint today (Monday, March 5) with the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct against 209th District Court Judge Michael McSpadden in Harris County, asking that McSpadden be immediately suspended and removed from the bench.
Eight state and local civil rights groups filed a formal complaint Friday with a judicial commission, seeking sanctions against a Harris County felony court judge because of comments he made to the Houston Chronicle about black defendants.
Reformers have targeted Texas primary races where candidates promise bail reform and jail diversion.
The Texas prison system is considering moving youthful offenders from a Brazoria prison to the former death row unit in Huntsville on the heels of a rape investigation, according to one lawmaker and multiple sources within the agency.
A majority of facilities at the Travis County Correction Complex need major infrastructure upgrades. Nineteen of 27 buildings fail functional, mechanical, and architectural ratings, according to the Planning and Budget Office. A two-year analysis resulted in the 2016 master plan with recommendations on renovation and expansion.
When Travis County commissioners approved the 2018 budget in September that included about $6.6 million to design a new women’s facility in the Del Valle jail, County Judge Sarah Eckhardt insisted, over the cries of criminal justice reform advocates, that it would not mean more beds overall but that more would be allocated to women.
Read the rest of this article at the Austin American-Statesman.
The Houston school district is under fire after a student without legal status ended up in immigration detention following his arrest by a school police officer for an altercation with a female student.
A recent report shows there are 99 of what the city of Houston considers as ‘alternative homes’ dotted around Harris County, all intended for the purpose of housing parolees.
