State Supreme Court rules Texas can hide the identity of execution drug supplier
Citing security concerns, the state has fought for years to keep the supplier's name secret. Full Story
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![Texas' execution chamber in Huntsville.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
Texas officials say it would cost $1 billion to cool prisons – but they’ve grossly overestimated AC costs before
An estimate to put air conditioning into one prison changed from more than $20 million to $4 million last year. Full Story
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![Telford prison in New Boston.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
As number of imprisoned Texas women grows, lawmakers hope to add "dignity" to their time behind bars
Multiple bills filed this session aim to address deficiencies in women's prisons. Full Story
![Emily Fulbright at the Women's [In]Justice Day rally on the south steps of the capitol on Mar. 8, 2019.](https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/MCvqYC_kzwU_DLsyzq81SRirgKo=/850x570/smart/filters:quality(75)/https://static.texastribune.org/media/files/596cb4f29ebd0a0fc275e0cf4811f00d/05_Women_Prisons_March_MG.jpg)
![Emily Fulbright at the Women's [In]Justice Day rally on the south steps of the capitol on Mar. 8, 2019.]()
Credit: Miguel Gutierrez Jr. / The Texas Tribune -
Texas senator proposes moving all youth in state lockups to shuttered adult jail
After shrinking the population at state-run juvenile lockups, state Sen. John Whitmire wants to move the remaining youth at five facilities to one recently closed adult jail. Full Story
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Texas may soon have to report the temperatures inside its uncooled prisons
The requirement was included in a budget amendment approved by a House subcommittee Wednesday. Full Story
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![Prison staff and inmates move through the Darrington Unit's main hallway on Wednesday, July 12, 2017.]()
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A state report says a Texas inmate died from heat last year. Prison officials contest that finding.
A recent in-custody death report said an inmate died from hyperthermia in July, but Texas prison officials said he was in an air-conditioned cell. Full Story
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![Inmates walk down a hallway at Brazoria County's Darrington prison in July 2017.]()
Credit: Jolie McCullough / The Texas Tribune -
Texas Supreme Court weighs whether state should reveal execution drug supplier
Justices questioned whether revealing the name would risk physical harm to the supplier — or only hurt its business. Full Story
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![The Justices of the Texas Supreme Court hear the Texas Department of Criminal Justice v. Maurie Levin, et al. case on Jan. 23, 2019.]()
Credit: Emree Weaver / The Texas Tribune -
Retirement and low pay caused Texas agencies to lose nearly 29,000 employees last year
Advocates for state workers are calling for increased pay after a State Auditor’s Office report released in December found that agency turnover was at 19.3 percent in the 2018 budget year. The top reasons employees said they left were retirement, better pay and benefits and poor working conditions. Full Story
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Credit: Todd Wiseman -
Convicted murderer Alvin Braziel executed for killing Mesquite man and raping his wife
Braziel's attorneys failed to secure a delay in the execution after last-minute argument that prosecutorial conduct tainted his trail. He was the 13th and final inmate Texas put to death this year. Full Story
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![Alvin Braziel was sentenced to death for the 1993 murder of Doug and Lora White on a Mesquite jogging trail.]()
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Report highlights the trauma that thousands of Texas families have experienced with incarceration
Researchers reviewed prison data and surveyed more than 4,000 adults this summer to determine how incarceration affects family members of prisoners. Full Story
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![Jaden opens his gift bag from his father Jason Jackson. Volunteers collect and organize age appropriate items that fathers then put into gift bags the day before the Day with Dad.]()
Credit: Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune -
Trump administration looks to Texas as it pushes a criminal justice reform bill
Prominent Texans in Washington are pushing for a criminal justice reform bill, and lawmakers are looking to the state as an example of how reform works. Full Story
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![U.S. President Donald Trump participates in a roundtable discussion with state leaders (including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton) on prison reform in Bedminster, New Jersey on August 9, 2018.]()
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Report: Houston-based pharmacy is supplier of state's execution drugs
Greenpark Compounding Pharmacy has been selling Texas drugs for lethal injections for three and a half years, according to a BuzzFeed News report. Full Story
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Advocates say the timing is right for independent oversight of Texas prisons
A bill aiming to detach the ombudsman from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice died in 2017. But news from the past year makes advocates hopeful that 2019 will be different. Full Story
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Texas executes Robert Moreno Ramos, amid pleas for case review
Lawyers for Ramos had argued that he wasn’t aware of his rights under an international treaty, and therefore didn't receive proper legal counsel during his trial and sentencing. Full Story
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![Mexican national Robert Ramos is scheduled to be executed on Nov. 14, 2018, for the Feb. 1992 murder of his wife and their two children.]()
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Texas Supreme Court reverses course, will hear case over whether state can keep execution drug supplier secret
The court will hold oral arguments on whether to name a past supplier of the execution drug in January. Full Story
![Texas' execution chamber in Huntsville.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
A Texas prison guard has been charged in an assault connected to an inmate's death
The 22-year-old officer allegedly assaulted the inmate, who died from his injuries nearly two weeks later. Full Story
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![D'Andre Glasper]()
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Texas spent $7 million to fight against A/C in a prison. It may only cost $4 million to install.
At a Capitol hearing, the Texas prison system's director said exceptions in construction requirements allowed for the cost decrease. Full Story
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![Inmates shuffle past fans in the Darrington prison's main hallway on a hot July day.]()
Credit: Jolie McCullough / The Texas Tribune -
Texas must reveal where it got execution drugs, the Texas Supreme Court affirms
The move from the Texas Supreme Court comes more than a year after an Austin-based appeals court said the agency must reveal a 2014 supplier of lethal injection drugs. Full Story
![Texas' execution chamber in Huntsville.]()
Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice -
"You’re not as safe as you should be." How understaffing is affecting one Texas prison
The Telford Unit reports by far the most assaults on staff of any state-run lockup and has one of the highest rates of understaffing. Take a look inside the northeast Texas prison where guards and inmates alike are suffering. Full Story
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![Omar Edwards, who has been incarcerated at the Telford prison in New Boston for about four years, talks about how short staffing affects inmates on March 21, 2018.]()
Credit: Shelby Knowles for The Texas Tribune -
Here's an updated look at how many execution drugs Texas has in stock
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice released information Thursday night on the state's execution drug inventory. The department had stalled release of the records, which show that the expiration date of four doses was changed from January to November. See more details here. Full Story
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Credit: Graphic by Emily Albracht
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