Wednesday Open Thread

I'm headed off to the capitol this morning for the joint legislative hearing on TYC. Here are a few epigrammatic items from the news and blogs to tide y'all over till my return:

• Radley Balko at Reason discusses Informant Abuse and the House of Death

• In Tyler, Smith County placed $110 million in jail bonds on the November ballot, but "No provision was made for the sheriff's department and the probation department, both of which are housed in the building slated for demolition." Great planning, guys.
  

• What's the difference between graffiti and "found art, public art"? Read this post at Dirty Third Streets to find out. This is a cool post-graff innovation, don't you think?

• The Back Gate analyzes data from the national Prison Rape Elimination Act, exploring the finding that 36% of reported incidents involved allegations of staff misconduct.

• If Governor Perry and the Board of Pardons and Parole don't intervene by tomorrow, Kenneth Foster will die. Read Grits' Open Letter to the Governor explaining why those who support capital punishment should support commuting Foster's sentence.

And don't forget, if you have information you want to share with New York Times reporter Solomon Moore about understaffing issues at TYC or TDCJ, its causes and consequences, email him at smoore[at]nytimes.com. He'll be at the TYC hearing this morning, but I know he'd appreciate any help on his story y'all can provide.

Also, if you haven't signed the new online petition against the Texas Driver Responsibility surcharge, discussed here, I hope you'll do so.

Use this post as an open thread to discuss any of these items, TYC, or any other topic that strikes your fancy.