Advocates gathered Sunday afternoon at an east Austin park to raise awareness about the high rate of incarceration in Texas and the United States. According to a 2021 report by the Prison Policy Initiative, Texas has the 10th-highest incarceration rate in the country.
More than five million Texans have a public record of arrest or conviction, having served their time and paid back their debt to society. Still, our punishment often continues well past completing a sentence or period of state supervision. Texans with an old record face more than 1,000 barriers to re-entering society – from being ineligible for 90 of the 100 fastest-growing jobs to being barred from our children’s PTA or our homeowners’ association – shutting one in six Texans out of economic stability and community life.
Somewhere deep in the Austin Police Department's computer database sit the personnel files of each of its approximately 1,800 officers. Those files include their disciplinary histories, which may include details about unnecessary violence or unethical conduct, Internal Affairs investigations, and the punishments meted out for misconduct. Most officers won't have much or any disciplinary history. But some, almost certainly, have multiple instances of discipline in their files.
Formally incarcerated Texans are finding it harder to re-enter society after spending time in prison. A public safety reform group has launched an effort to remove the barriers millions of Texans with a record face.
Life after prison can prove to be quite a challenge for formerly incarcerated people, especially when it comes to getting a job. But we’re following one Texas man that’s defying the odds and sharing his inspiring story with others. Then, we sit down with Maggie Luna from the Texas Center for Justice and Equity. She explains their mission and how they’re providing hope for those incarcerated.
Nearly one in five Texans have a public arrest or jail record. Alliance for Safety and Justice the Nation’s largest public safety reform group says this blocks many of them from opportunities that can lead to a better quality of life. Maggie Luna says she knows first-hand that Texans with a past arrest or a conviction record have a greater challenge of building stability when returning to society.
A national organization helping connect people with criminal records to employment and housing opportunities is launching in Texas. TimeDone Texas held a resource fair Saturday with 300 Austinites who signed up for help.
Harris County Commissioners Court on Tuesday will consider a $25 million agreement to send jail inmates to the Giles Dalby Correctional Facility, a prison located in Post, a small Texas city near Lubbock. In January, the county shipped hundreds of inmates to a facility in Louisiana. Now, the county could approve an agreement to send inmates to an additional facility 475 miles away from Houston.
Today is Sandra Bland Day in Austin. The day was proclaimed in 2019 to remember Bland, whose suspicious 2015 death sparked outrage. Bland died in a Waller County, Texas jail cell in 2015 at the age of 28, but her death is still under speculation to this day.
Several organizations held an event Saturday in Austin to provide information and resources to people who've been previously incarcerated.
