What We're Reading

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  The U.S. Prison System Has Reached 1,000 COVID-19 Deaths

  Published on August 28, 2020

  Reason Magazine's Scott Shackford reports that the number of people who have died of COVID-19 in American prisons has passed 1,000 (inmates and staff), based on data collected by The Marshall Project.

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  Officer-Involved Shootings Climb in Texas; Blacks, Latinos Disproportionate Victims

  Published on August 27, 2020

  The Center on Media Crime and Justice at John Jay College featured TJI's officer-involved shootings report in their publication, The Crime Report. Reporter Laura Bowen focused on the increasing number of shootings by officers in Texas over the past four years and decreasing survival rates of victims.

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  Save Black Lives

  Published on August 5, 2020

  A new report from the Center for Justice Research and the Black Public Defender Association explores racial injustices and the impact of COVID-19 and incarceration in Black communities. Howard Henderson, the founding director of the center, said: "Black people are being infected and dying from COVID-19 at alarming rates. They are also overrepresented in carceral systems that increase their risk of exposure to this deadly virus.

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  Coronavirus in Jails and Prisons

  Published on July 27, 2020

  Kelly Davis reports on conditions at federal facilities including FMC Carswell, in Fort Worth, where three women have died of COVID-19: "Three women sleep four to a room and the rooms have no doors. As COVID-19 tore through the Texas prison—cases grew from 50 on July 7 to 571 by July 23—staff shut off the air conditioning and hung plastic curtains in the doorways to stop the virus’ spread."

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  Nearly 1,500 people have died in police custody in Texas since 2010, data shows

  Published on July 15, 2020

  The KVUE Defenders examine Texas' custodial death reporting process and interview Executive Director Eva Ruth Moravec on how TJI fills a need that is otherwise unmet.