Criminal Sentencing and Punishment

Flooded-Prison Lawsuit Moved Back to Texas

TDCJ Death Sparks A Lawsuit

ACLU Wants Galveston Jail Evacuated Next Time

"World Day Against The Death Penalty" Passes Quietly In Houston

No Death Penalties This Year For The Death-Penalty Capital Of America (That's Us)

This Guy Gets Cell Phone Service On Death Row

The Prison Experience Just Isn't The Same Without Cigarettes, Lawmaker Says

After sticking another inmate with a shiv in the showers, there’s nothing better than a tepid cup of apple wine and a smoke. Unfortunately, TDCJ banned all tobacco products in 1994, making it that much more difficult for a prisoner to relax after a hard day of rec-yard baseball or gang rape. ... More >>

Prisoners In Beaumont Federal Pen Sue Over Work Conditions

Earlier this year, we brought you the story of the hundreds of inmates at the maximum-security federal penitentiary in Beaumont who sued the U.S. government claiming officials did not evacuate them during Hurricane Rita and thereby forced them to endure inhumane, medieval conditions. While that lega ... More >>

TDCJ Comes Up Against The Cell Phone Companies

A lot of people who read about the epidemic of cell phones in Texas prisons had a basic question -- if you can't discover and confiscate the things, why not just block them? Set it up to jam transmissions in the prison?It turns out TDCJ has thought about that, but it's easier said than done.The pris ... More >>

The Nation Notices Harris County Ain't Killing People Much These Days

We first broke the news in October; the Houston Chronicle noticed it earlier this month, and now Time magazine has discovered it: There will be no one sent to Death Row from Harris County this year.Which, in historical terms, is kind of like saying Texas high schools will not be sending anyone to bi ... More >>

Houston's Child-Porn-Lovin' Attorney Arrested Again

Man, the Christmas season really blows for disbarred attorney Tom Zaratti.First, on Christmas Eve 2003, he was arrested for possession of child pornography, which ultimately led to a ten-year, $10,000 sentence. But while fortune smiled in the form of early parole, the anti-Christmas spirit came back ... More >>

Groups Protest The "Lock Up the Immigrants" Facility

Photo courtesy Houston Independent Media CenterJust before noon on Saturday some 50 protesters, including members of Houston's Students for a Democratic Society, gathered at the T. Don Hutto Family Detention Center outside Taylor, Texas, a holding facility for families of undocumented immigrants tha ... More >>

Kindness and Courage on Death Row

Thomas Cahill tells Dominique Green’s story

Living and Dying with Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor Over Sundance

How I turned some newspaper stories into a book which became a movie that caused those two guys to kiss

Crime Doesn’t Pay(back): A Houston Press Special Report on Court-Ordered Restitutions in Texas

More than 90 percent of Texas parolees walk away without paying off what the state ordered them to.

Rock the Lockup: 2008 Prison Reform Film Festival

Tales from the big house get on the big screen

Gone to Hell: Mental Illness and Harris County Jail

Even though Alexander Hatcher is bipolar and schizophrenic, he wasn't given his meds for his first three months in jail. He got in fights with the guards. Now he's sentenced to prison for a long, long time.

Former Death-Row Inmate Sent Back to Prison

Martin Draughon returns to the clink after becoming a test case for alleged flaws in GPS monitoring devices

Prison Cover-Up

Prison Breakdown

Amnesty International Begins 200-Minute Vigil Against The Death Penalty

Amnesty International has just begun a 200-minute vigil outside the Harris County Criminal Courthouse to protest the upcoming 200th execution under Governor Rick Perry.The original rally title, "Help Rick Perry Win The GOP Primary," was apparently discarded.But holding an anti-death-penalty vigil in ... More >>

For Their Own Good: A Chance at Rehabilitation

Teens could go to TYC till they're 19, then have another hearing to determine parole or prison after that.

For Their Own Good

Harris County juveniles certified as adults are jailed in isolation 23 hours a day — without being convicted of a crime.

TDCJ Guard Gets Two Years For Lying About Kicking Inmate In The Head

​A TDCJ guard who had been found guilty of filing a false "use of force" report was sentenced today to what no doubt will be two very uncomfortable years in a federal prison. (Or maybe guards take care of their own? We don't wanna know.)Eugene Morris, 41, had kicked an inmate in the head repeatedl ... More >>

ISO A Femme Fatale? Jail Babes Has The Hook-Up

​Can't find a match on Match.com? Can't get it in tune on eHarmony? Desperate for a young hottie, but not exactly a catch yourself and unable to fly to Russia for a mail order bride? We've got a dating sight for you: Jailbabes.Jailbabes is just like any other dating site, except all of the women ... More >>

Edinburg Police Foiled In Attempt To Give Pot To State Prison Inmates, Apparently

​They do things different down in the Valley. Like, if you're a police department, you donate some marijuana to inmates at the local state prison.Oh sure, Edinburg police are saying it was all a mistake, and no way did they intend to give 25 pounds of pot to inmates by cleverly concealing it in a ... More >>

Most Menacing Fugitive Ever On The Loose In Area: Really, Don't Try To Apprehend This Dude On Your Own

Photo from Montgomery County SO​A lot of times when you read a report about a fugitive, that part about how "the subject should be considered armed and dangerous: do not attempt to apprehend" seems like a mere formality. That is decidedly not the case when it comes to 41-year-old Montgomery County ... More >>

Victims' Wrongs: Injured parties in Harris County say plea bargains go on behind their backs

Some injured parties in Harris County say plea bargains go on behind their backs and without their approval.

Dogfighting Bust Whimpers Out

Plus: Big new park for Montrose?

We're No. 1! (In Executions)

Photo by Katharine ShilcuttA death penalty protest march was held last week in downtown Austin.​In its 2009 Death Penalty and Executions report released today, Amnesty International calls Texas the "worst offender," because -- with 24 executions -- it leads the country in the number of people ... More >>

Former MHMRA Psychologist Leddy Convicted of Fraud

Courtesy of Montgomery County Sheriff's Office​A former psychologist with the Mental Health and Mental Retardation Authority of Harris County, who evaluated defendants in close to 1,000 criminal cases during his time with the agency, recently pled guilty to Medicaid fraud. Matthew Leddy, the ... More >>

Execution Drug In Short Supply; How Will Texas Cope?

Texas doesn't make rookie mistakes when it comes to the death penalty​The Arizona Republic reports today that a planned execution in Ohio almost had to delay a recent execution because of a shortage of thiopental sodium, the drug used for lethal injections. Arizona, it said, might be unable to do ... More >>

Texas Has Fewer Inmates; What The Hell Are We Doing Wrong?

​The U.S. Department of Justice recently released a report about state prison populations, and Texas was one of six states with large decreases in the number of people incarcerated.  These numbers continue, the report says, "the trend of slower growth observed in the prison population since 2 ... More >>

Harris County Inmates Still Fighting To See Medical Records

Harris County Jail, looking pristene​The on-again-off-again court battle to allow Harris County prison inmates to obtain copies of their own medical records while behind bars is starting to steam up once more.In one corner there is Matthew Collazo, who has been sentenced to prison for jumping bond ... More >>

David Kaczynski: Unabomber's Brother Campaigns Against Death Penalty

Photo by Craig MalisowDavid Kaczynski hasn't heard from Ted lately​Once you become forever known as "The Unabomber's Brother," there are probably two ways you can go: you can do your best to hide (say, maybe move to a cozy, isolated cabin in Montana?) or you can use your position to further a caus ... More >>

Willie D Gets A Year And A Day In Federal Pen For Wire Fraud

​Former Geto Boy Willie D, aka William Dennis, has been sentenced to a year and a day in federal prison on wire fraud charges, the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of Texas announced today. Judge Gray Miller also ordered Willie D to pay nearly $200,000 in restitution to the buy ... More >>

Montrose Murder

Paul Broussard's killer, up for parole, may not be model prisoner.

The Death Penalty Is Totally Passe These Days, Group Finds

She ain't getting as much use as she's used to​Harris County, you used to be cool. You sent more people to Death Row than most countries. And were damn proud of it, too. Now, the death penalty is a forgotten memory of another time, the go-go `80s and `90s when brash prosecutors racked up exec ... More >>

Prison Pays

Despite a history of abuse and bad conditions, private prison corporation GEO keeps getting contracts from the state.

ACLU: When Facing Death, Lizards Are Treated More Humanely Than Humans

Does Cleve Foster deserve a death at least as humane as that of a lizard? The ACLU thinks so.​The pets of those on death row would be treated more humanely than their owners, if the animals were sitting in the execution chamber instead of them. According to a report released by the American C ... More >>

Cover Story: John Kinsel's Life Without Parole

​This week's feature tells the story of John Kinsel, a man who will spend the rest of his life locked up at Angola Prison for a crime his accuser has since said he didn't commit. Alyssa Medlin testified as a nine-year-old that Kinsel -- her mother's boyfriend -- had raped her for years. The gi ... More >>

George C. Denkowski: "Dr. Death Penalty" Won't Be Filling Up Death Row Anymore

Death Row cases take another hit.​George C. Denkowski, the forensic psychologist who's been driving capital-murder defense lawyers crazy for years, is no longer allowed to send convicts to Death Row. Denkowski was reprimanded by the Texas State Board of Examiners of Psychologists and agreed n ... More >>

John Kinsel, Imprisoned For A Crime His Accuser Says She Made Up, Hangs Out At Angola Prison Rodeo

Mandy OaklanderJohn Kinsel sells his wares at the Angola Prison Rodeo.​Dooney & Bourke knockoff purses and stainless steel crosses line a long row of picnic tables at the Angola Prison Rodeo craft sale. The artisans wait close behind in a parallel craggy row, separated from their wares by a ch ... More >>

Hernan Guerra: Valley Police Chief Directed Everyone AWAY From The Weed Smugglers

Pay no attention to those men smuggling weed​Being the chief of police in the Valley's Sullivan City is no doubt a prestigious position, but it does have its temptations. And former chief Hernan Guerra admitted to a federal judge that he gave in to them, working busily to make sure no one cau ... More >>

Doing Time, Wrongly

Finally, a chat with our cover subject.

Frank Ulysses "Frenchfry" Tiller: Texas Man Arrested for 1999 Murder of 83-Year-Old Man in Six-Dollar Robbery

"Frenchfry": Charged with killing an elderly man taking out the garbage​Two months ago, Illinois police used a fingerprint to arrest a man for the 1988 rape of a 12-year-old girl in Orange County, Texas. In another OC-related cold case, police in Orange County last week arrested Frank Ulysses ... More >>

Kenneth Randle, Unluckiest Get-Away Driver Ever, Gets 11 Years Because His Pals Were A-Holes

Kenneth Randle: See ya in 2022​A 23-year-old man who sat unarmed as the driver of a bank-robbery car has been sentenced to 11 years without parole mostly, it seems, because his colleagues were violent a-holes. During the $40,000 robbery last October, the three dudes he was working with physic ... More >>

Alleged White Supremacists Beat Black Man, But DA Doesn't File Hate Crime Charge

FacebookCharles Cannon won't face hate-crime charges.​In a crime that hearkened back to the skinhead days of the early '90s, or modern-day Dallas, four white men remain behind bars today charged with assaulting a black man at a downtown bus stop early Sunday morning. Police want the incident c ... More >>

Bad Mugshot Bonanza: Five Longview Crime All-Stars Netted in Single Drug Bust

Gregg County JailAccused meth dealer George Griffis​An expired inspection sticker led to fresh arrests for five of Longview's most frequently busted miscreants Friday. Police say that 48-year-old Howard "Cowboy" Perkins and 47-year-old Clifton Ardry were stopped while riding in a pickup near ... More >>

Death Penalty Is Going Out of Style, New Report Says

Texas is still doing its part​America, you just ain't the criminal-killin' place you used to be. A new report from the Death Penalty Information Center says that for the first time since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976, less than 100 executions took place in the U.S. There have bee ... More >>

Bryan Ray Roe: Repeat Sex Offender Allegedly Assaults Autistic Boy, 9

Coryell County JailBryan Ray Roe: Not the hobbit-sized predator's first ride at the sicko rodeo.​Talk about every parent's nightmare...Police in Coryell County say that a nine-year-old autistic Abilene boy was molested at a rural Central Texas bluegrass festival. Charged with the crime is regi ... More >>