Press Contact: For all media inquiries, please contact Madison Kaigh, Communications Manager, at mkaigh@TexasCJE.orgor (512) 441-8123, ext. 108.
On April 29, members of the Clean Slate Texas coalition will host an expunction clinic to help community members clear eligible Texas criminal records through expunction and/or nondisclosure.
This week, local justice advocacy groups will host a virtual candidate forum for the Travis County Commissioners Court election. Participating will be candidates for Precinct 2 Commissioner Bob Libal and Brigid Shea (incumbent), and candidates for Precinct 4 Commissioner Margaret Gómez (incumbent) and Susanna Ledesma-Woody.
Starting in 2017, Thai media published a series of articles on the country’s growing class of “new poor people,” former incarcerees who were finding it almost impossible to get hired and often returning to prison as a result.
Abilene attorneys Blizzard and Zimmerman are co-sponsoring the first "Reentry Coalition Expunction Clinic in Abilene." This event is Friday, April 29, 2022, from 9 am until 4 pm. There will be two sessions that day one is in the morning and the second in the afternoon.
The Harris County juvenile justice system disproportionately punishes a small group of Black and brown kids more harshly than others, according to a study from Rice University Texas Policy Lab. Of the 42,000 kids who came into contact with the Harris County juvenile justice system between 2010 and 2019, most had only one interaction, according to the study.
On January 29, a group of formerly incarcerated and justice system-impacted Texans will convene in Houston. The event, “From Prison to Power: Finding Your Voice After Incarceration,” is organized by the Texas Center for Justice and Equity’s Statewide Leadership Council (SLC) and partners.
For years, Demetrius Johnson, now 54, spent his days imagining what his life could have been if he had made different decisions at the age of 16. He describes it as if it actually happened to an alternate version of himself: A Demetrius Johnson who got a job at 18 and took care of his family. Who bought a two-bedroom house next door to his aunt, where he lived with his mother, his son and his son’s mother. Whose aunt helped turn the garage into an extra bedroom.
Prison education programs across the country have long overlooked incarcerated women, offering fewer courses and degree options. Northwestern University is hoping to change that. Last spring, the university expanded its three-year-old prison education program to include incarcerated women.
In Texas, people charged with crimes and found mentally incompetent to stand trial most often obtain restoration treatment at a state hospital before returning to jail and being able to actively participate in their defense. In recent years, there have been efforts to increase other competency restoration alternatives – like jail-based or outpatient methods – but for some people, those options are not always available.
Over the past five years, more than 6,600 women in Texas prisons have made audio recordings of “The Invisible String,” a children’s book about the unseen bonds that connect us to those we cherish, no matter the distance. Each inmate’s recording and a copy of the brightly illustrated book were sent to her children, who often live hundreds of miles away with Grandma or another guardian.
Read the rest of this article from the Austin American-Statesman.
