Jail Project of Texas

Legislative Advocacy: Our work this legislative session yielded multiple wins in laws related to mental health, disability rights, and cash bail. We worked in collaboration with statewide organizations such as ACLU TX, Texas Fair Defense Project, Texas Civil Rights Project and others and made moves as part of statewide coalitions, to educate and inform lawmakers through our expertise and that of lived experience of people who have been directly impacted. The sum amount of that led to successes in: (1) The defeat of SB 1318 & SJR 44, harmful proposals that would have radically expanded pretrial incarceration without bail; (2) The inclusion of Rider 35 in SB 1146 to ensure the continuity of medications for people transferring back from state hospitals to county jails post competency restoration (and to end the cycle of people "losing competency" as a result of not receiving prescribed medication); (3) The passing of SB 1677 to require jail diversion centers in certain Local Mental Health Authority service areas; (4) The passing of SB 26 which mandates our community's priority of an independent audit of local forensic waitlists and mental health services by the Office of the Inspector General (for a clearer account of why so many with mental illness end up in county jails and on the forensic "incompetent to stand trial" 46 B waitlist); (5) The passing of SB 944, thanks to essential testimony by our community member Tracy Williams (testimony timestamp 3:23:14), which gives guardians of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities(I/DD), an option to divert their loved ones with acute needs, to State Supported Living Centers rather than being criminalized for their disability, and (6) Increased support from legislators on establishing a medical liaison in county jails, which did not pass this time but primes our renewed push next session. (7) Successful defeat of SB 1896 which aimed to water down custody death investigations as mandated by the robust Sandra Bland Act from 2015, by providing case studies to committee members. Organizing & Policy Advocacy: (1) For the four quarterly meetings of state regulatory agency Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS), we organized and facilitated over 110 public comments from community members and advocates from at least 20 different counties. We organized a press conference at one of the quarterly meetings. For the other three meetings, we strategically invited members of the press to focus on different aspects of pretrial detention leading to successful pitches. (2) For the four meetings of the TCJS- Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Advisory Committee, we brought 5 public comments from directly impacted families and 3 policy advocates from the disabilities space. With our help one of the community members applied to be on this committee. (3) Organized and facilitated 11 public comments from community members in 5 different counties to the Statewide Behavioral Health Coordinating Council, Joint Committee on Access and Forensic Services and Behavioral Health Advisory Council. (4) Organized and facilitated public comments from dozens of community members at commissioners court all through the year in 3 different counties. (5) Conducted teach-ins and technical assistance for public comments from at least 40 community members including directly impacted people, and advocates at commissioners court in three different counties. (6) Tracked, monitored and uploaded 83 non-compliant jail reports published by TCJS on TJP website (7) Organized two families of directly impacted community members to speak at board meetings of Local Mental Health Authority in two counties, in an effort to hold them accountable for lack of continuity of care for people with severe mental illness who are incarcerated for behaviors resulting from the symptoms of their illness. Our mental health advocate also spoke at two board meetings in one county. Casework: (1) Received 1125 unique emails through HelpLine. Replied to 533. 47% response rate. (2) Received 447 calls on HelpLine. 56% response rate on calls (3) TJP team made 794 case calls/intakes based on emails and calls received. (4) Received and archived 302 letters from people incarcerated in county jails. (5) Received 315 complaints on which we were copied along with the state regulatory agency Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS). (6) We filed 21 life & safety complaints with TCJS. One community member died in custody within 2 days of our complaint being filed. (7) Interviewed with DoJ regarding deaths and conditions of confinement in two county jails. (8) On request, interviewed with FBI about custody deaths in one county jail. Narrative Shift: (1) Successfully pitched 59 stories about county jail conditions, custody deaths, bail, pretrial detention etc, in national, state and county level media. We were quoted in 58 of those stories. (2) Two stories published in statewide media were focused on and centered around our work. (3) TJP's executive director co-authored and successfully published two essays in national media and expert testimony in a federal bail lawsuit in Harris county: Pregnant People are Shackled and Abused in Harris County Jail in The Appeal which was authored with attorney Elizabeth Rossi of Civil Rights Corps and psychiatrist and public health thought leader Eric Reinhart. This essay portrayed the futility of reforms against a deeply intrinsic culture and pattern of systemic abuses enacted against pregnant people, by amplifying the stories of many more survivors we have worked with. (4) TJP's co-founder & executive director co-authored and published an op-ed in Teen Vogue with co-author Amy Growcock, detailing the gross medical negligence she experienced while undergoing labor and delivery in Harris County Jail. (5) TJP's executive director authored an expert declaration on conditions in Harris county jail for the Russel v. Harris County felony bail reform lawsuit filed in federal court by Civil Rights Corps. This declaration was based on dozens of letters, phone calls and casework from prior years. (6) Freedom Stories Project - In an effort to counter the fear mongering about bail reform, we started the Freedom Stories-100 Stories project under which we collected success stories of misdemeanor bail reform (ODonnell Consent Decree) in Harris county. This project was funded by Arnold Ventures. In collaboration with national partner Zealous, we started jail canvassing and court watching in mid-2023. We conducted over 110 interviews. Collected 81 stories. (7) The Center for Journalism developed a comprehensive explainer around common questions about cash bail and bail reform, where we were listed as Texas's go-to source: Bail Reform: What to Know and Where to Go for More. Watchdog/DeFacto Civilian Oversight: (1 ) Proper Accounting of Custody Deaths: Texas county jails reportedly claimed 153 lives in 2023. Yet the true count is obscured by some jails that hide deaths. We have been taking these jails to task. And by direct request, we have succeeded in compelling five jails to report previously unreported custody deaths and one jail to admit on record that they issued unsigned PR bonds to two people, after transferring them to the hospital as they were dying. Our watchdog efforts have ensured that 5 additional deaths are now being appropriately accounted for in records to the Texas Attorney General, and thereby national data that is collected under the Deaths in Custody Reporting Act (DCRA). As a result of this reporting, these deaths will now have to be officially investigated by an independent law enforcement agency, thus giving grieving families a potential opportunity for legal recourse. (2) Increasing Scrutiny of Overcrowded & Deadly Jails: In Harris County Jail alone, there were 17 reported deaths and 2 unreported deaths in 2023 after a record 28 last year. We broke news of one of those unreported deaths -Lawrence Gutierrez - through the help of local TV media. Despite the grievous number, it has been our political education and advocacy work that's brought greater media coverage and deeper investigations into HCJ's abuses, and a more accurate portrait of those affected. From oversight agencies, to media, to allies, to community members - all have now turned high alert to the players and policies we?ve been pointing to. The Harris County Commissioners Court now requires the Sheriff's Office to provide immediate written notification of in-custody deaths after repeatedly learning of fatalities only through us exposing them. We organized impacted family members and drafted a letter outlining 7 demands for Harris county commissioners court. We were successful in getting seven leading criminal justice organizations to sign on to this letter. (3) In Tarrant county jail where there have been an unusually high number of deaths under a Constitutional Sheriff (Waybourn), we strengthened our ties with community advocates and faith grou