Texas Department Of Criminal Justice

Senate Panel Considers DWI Deferred Adjudication

By Brandi Grissom April 12, 2011

For the first time in decades, first-time drunken-driving offenders could get deferred adjudication under a bill the Senate Criminal Justice Committee considered Tuesday. Full Story

Tim Stevens pours an Agave Wit at Uncle Billy's Brew & Que. — Credit: Jacob Villanueva

Panel Considers Decriminalizing Homosexual Conduct

By Andrew Weber April 5, 2011

A House panel today considered bills that would decriminalize homosexual sex in Texas. Full Story

State Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, listens to testimony as chairman of the Criminal Jurisprudence committee on April 5, 2011. — Credit: Bob Daemmrich

Supreme Court Stays First Pentobarbital Execution

By Brandi Grissom April 5, 2011

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a 30-day stay for death row inmate Cleve Foster, who was scheduled tonight to become the first Texas inmate executed using the state's new three-drug lethal injection cocktail. Full Story

Appeals Court Denies Request to Delay Execution

By Brandi Grissom April 4, 2011

The 3rd Court of Appeals today denied two death row inmates' request to stop the state from using a new lethal injection drug. Full Story

ACLU: Texas Law Protects Lizards More Than Humans

By Brandi Grissom April 4, 2011

Texas laws more strictly regulate euthanasia of animals than the lethal injection of death row inmates, according to a report released Sunday by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Texas and the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University Law School. Full Story

Guest Column: The Red-Headed Exception

By Joe Nick Patoski April 4, 2011

The authorities in Hudspeth County have realized what the rest of us have known for years: Before you start investigating the funny smell emanating from his tour bus, remember that he's Willie Nelson. The usual rules don't apply. Full Story

Judge Denies Death Penalty Drug Challenge

By Brandi Grissom April 1, 2011

Travis County District Court Judge Stephen Yelenosky this afternoon denied the request of two death row inmates to temporarily halt executions with Texas' new lethal injection drug. Lawyers for Cleve Foster and Humberto Leal said they would immediately appeal the judge's decision. Full Story

Execution Drug Switch Ignites Controversy

By Brandi Grissom April 1, 2011

Texas' decision to change one of the drugs used for lethal injections has sparked a lawsuit, calls for federal investigation of the criminal justice department and pleas from the drugmaker not to use its product for executions. Full Story

House Lawmakers Propose Privatizing All State Jails

By Brandi Grissom March 31, 2011

House lawmakers are considering a plan to privatize all of Texas' state jails for low-level felony offenders, a move they say could save the state up to $40 million. Full Story

Lawyers Allege Texas Executes Prisoners With Illegally Obtained Drugs

By Brandi Grissom March 30, 2011

Lawyers for two Texas death row inmates today asked state and federal law enforcement to investigate whether prison officials illegally obtained death penalty drugs the state used in nearly all of its 466 executions. Full Story

This gurney is used to perform executions at Terre Haute by lethal injection.

Eyewitness Identification Bill Tentatively Passes House

By Reeve Hamilton and Morgan Smith March 30, 2011

A bill to improve how police conduct lineups to solve crimes tentatively passed the Texas House today without opposition. Full Story

State Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, during State Affairs Committee Hearing on March 14th, 2011 — Credit: Marjorie Kamys Cotera

Lawmakers Want Fewer Tickets for Students

By Andrew Weber March 29, 2011

Last year, Texas police issued 300,000 students for offenses like chewing gum, truancy and cursing. The Senate Criminal Justice Committee today discussed a bill that would mean far fewer citations for youngsters in schools. Full Story

Students at Austin Discovery School work on a project at the Texas charter school on Tuesday, February 15th, 2011. — Credit: Steve Moakley

Death Row Inmates Sue Over Lethal Injection Drug

By Brandi Grissom March 29, 2011

Two death row inmates sued the state today, arguing that the decision to use a new lethal injection drug was made too secretly and too hastily. Full Story

Towns Suffer as Private Prisons Struggle to Fill Cells

By Mose Buchele, KUT News March 29, 2011

A few years ago, rural cities and counties in Texas were lining up to incarcerate inmates for profit in private prisons and jails. But today, as Mose Buchele of KUT News reports in partnership with NPR, an increasing number of cells sit empty, leaving many Texas communities struggling with mounting debts. Full Story

AUDIO SLIDESHOW: Touring the Texas Prison Museum

By Caleb Bryant Miller March 28, 2011

Former "Walls Unit" warden Jim Willett narrates a photographic tour of the Texas Prison Museum, where he is the executive director. Full Story

Looking Back on a Life as a Death House Warden

By Brandi Grissom March 28, 2011

Jim Willett had not intended to spend the better part of his adult life working in Texas’ sprawling prison system. But the business student turned prison guard worked 30 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and oversaw 89 executions. Full Story

Jim Willett is the director of the Texas Prison Museum and was a warden at the Walls Unit who oversaw 89 executions by lethal injection. He sits in a replica cell within the museum.

TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

By Evan Smith March 26, 2011

M. Smith on the continuing controversy over Beaumont's school administrators, Tan on the deepening divide over the consequences of the House budget, Hamilton on the latest in the fight over higher ed accountability, Grissom on young inmates in adult prisons, Aguilar on the voter ID end game, Tan and Hasson's Rainy Day Fund infographic, Ramsey on the coming conflict over school district reserves, M. Smith and Aguilar on Laredo ISD's missing Social Security numbers, Galbraith on environmental regulators bracing for budget cuts and Ramshaw on greater scrutiny of neonatal intensive care units: The best of our best content from March 21 to 25, 2011. Full Story

Marc Mauer: The TT Interview

By Brandi Grissom March 23, 2011

The national criminal justice expert on how other states have handled controversial prison closings and reduced criminal justice costs and how the Right On Crime Movement might give lawmakers the political freedom to be more than tough when it comes to crime. Full Story

Marc Mauer: The TT Interview

By Brandi Grissom March 23, 2011

The Tribune sat down recently with national criminal justice expert Marc Mauer, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based reform advocacy group The Sentencing Project, to get his advice about how Texas can continue on its so-called 'right on crime' path even as lawmakers slice millions from the state budget. Mauer, who was in Austin for the Barbara Jordan Symposium at the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs, talked about how other states have handled controversial prison closings, how others have reduced criminal justice costs and how the Right On Crime Movement — with support from conservative leaders like Grover Norquist and Newt Gingrich — might give lawmakers the political freedom to be more than tough when it comes to crime. Full Story

TribWeek: In Case You Missed It

By Ross Ramsey March 19, 2011

Grissom on threats to re-entry programs for criminals, Hamilton on the tempest over the direction of UT, E. Smith's interview with Joe Straus, Stiles and Chang's new lobbying app, M. Smith and Weber on where state officeholders send their children to school, Aaronson on allowing new nuclear power plants, Aguilar on how Hispanic Republicans are handling immigration issues, Ramshaw talks abortion with Planned Parennthood's Cecile Richards, Tan and Dehn on tapping the Rainy Day Fund and Galbraith on San Antonio and its water: The best of our best content from March 14 to 18, 2011. Full Story