End of the Week Roundup

I thought I'd take a moment to point Grits readers to several fascinating stories I might blog about if I had more time:

• By the Numbers. Doc Berman provides links to loads of fresh data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics about prisons, probation and parole.

• Payback. In Austin, the city settled a lawsuit with the family of Daniel Rocha, an unarmed suspect who was shot to death by Austin police, for $1 million

• Closure and Transparency. At the Travis County jail, an inmate's family is trying to find out how he died in county custody, demonstrating once again why Texas' open record statutes need to be (re)strengthened for investigations that don't result in prosecution.
  

• Exonerated. Pegasus News has an interview with Dallas DNA exoneree Stephen Phillips, who was one of the men whose DNA tests were denied by former DA Bill Hill and the courts before Craig Watkins took office in 2006 and reversed the decision.

• Human Trafficking. As the Texas Legislature prepares to consider legislation to prevent "human trafficking," I was interested to see this post from the Federal Crimes Blog and also Douglas McNabb's prior coverage on the topic.

• Subways vs. Prisons? Eric Lotke from the Campaign for America's Future has a great column that opens, "China has opened a new subway system every year for the past six years. The U.S. has opened 45 new prisons and jails. Who’s setting up to lead in the 21st century?"

• The Chaplain. The Bandera County Courier has a feature on a local pastor who's been operating a jail ministry at the county jail for the last 25 years.