- Closing the loop on a story first broken on this blog, the Houston Chronicle reported that Gov. Greg Abbott has reversed Rick Perry's decision to defy the federal government over implementation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). Good for Gov. Abbott, Perry's position on this bordered on insensible.
- The University of North Texas Health Science Center has received numerous large grants from the National Institute of Justice, including for research on DNA mixture protocols and multi-million grants to support a National Missing and Unidentified Persons database.
- Following up on this story on the Harris County Jail, here are several complaints filed in federal court over deaths and a 2009 letter from the Justice Department detailing similar problems, via the Texas Legislative Research Library.
- Austin is moving closer to creating a sobriety center/drunk tank separate from the county jail.
- See coverage in the Houston Chronicle of new HPD bodycams and a copy of the departmental policy governing them.
- Dallas Police Chief David Brown looks like he'll survive a no-confidence vote by the department's largest union. Grits just finished reading a telling discussion of that time-honored tactic in this book by Texas unionists and may return to their analysis later.
- "Counties across Texas increasingly are sending teenage lawbreakers to out-of-state rehabilitation programs instead of state-run lockups that have been plagued by reports of violence," reported Mike Ward at the Houston Chronicle. "In all, 226 youthful offenders have been sent to 13 out-of-state treatment programs for at-risk youths in the past two years from Harris and 20 other counties."
- At the risk of indulging anti-intellectualism, and with apologies to my friends in the academy, as a frequent consumer of academic social-science products, I've laughed at this all morning.
Wednesday, October 07, 2015
Texas will comply with PREA, and other stories
Here are a few items which merit Grits readers' attention even if I don't have time this week to fully adumbrate them:
That SSRN article is the best thing ever - laughing with you, Grits.
ReplyDeleteI never really understood what aspects of PREA were rejected by Gov. Perry, for in the prison system we have been followin PREA guidelines, practices and training for at least two years of which I am aware. We had already been doing a whole lot of rape-prevention education and training, making PREA material seem somewhat elementary and and uninsightful. Certainly nothing new there. Oh well, with Gov Abbott's acceptance of PREA maybe everyone can be happy now.
ReplyDeletePrison DOc
Looks to me like Texas needs more services.
ReplyDeleteOhio
I read your emails almost everyday and live not far from your hometown. I have been on your email list for over a year now and this is my favorite story you have done.
ReplyDeleteI like it so much I am posting a copy here:
http://sexoffenderfaq.blogspot.com/p/new-blogs-part-2-updated-june-12-2015.html bottom of the page.
People like you are the reason freedom still exists in the; Land of the Free.
so those 200 + youth sent by Harris county to out of state facilities have little to no oversight by anyone in the state & little incentive to report anything they do. Our in-state contract facilities are much the same. Most of the namby pamby programs don't work at rehabilitating these youth. Kids at boarding school have more structure & discipline than the state programs for juveniles.
ReplyDelete*The day after Perry is told that his ass is going to trial, Abbott comes out in favor of protecting inmates from but-pirates. Smells like Perry & Paxton begged Abbott to breakout the PREA but-plugs. R's taking care of Indicted R's, now that's brotherhood.
ReplyDelete*226 'richers' parents paid for their children to be placed in non-violent programs. In order for that to happen, you'd have to look at the judges. Getting them to show you their greased palms would take a deeper investigation. (hint, hint Mike).
*Brown is the best thing Big-D has ever had in uniform. The only ones anti-Brown are the ones that would like to return to the olden days of being able to get away with committing crimes on & off shift. Brown didn't play on day one & has continued to do the right thing with probably one exception - that being, given police officers 5 days to get their stories straight before they can be interviewed. That was and is complete bullshit and he should make it go away. If he didn't implement that shit, I guarantee you that a couple of thousand of us of all colors would have marched on his behalf to stay put.
I have a huge problem with PREA, having spent a bit of time in the Texas Dept. of Corruption, called decades. I noticed the ones allocated these, (from I WITNESSED do-as little-as-necessary and only what you absolutely Have-To positions). They were allocated to favored employees either by Local long standing relationships prior to TDC's emergence in their community or a relationship evolving during their employment, IF you know what I mean. Anyways methinks just simple commonsense and considerate not to mention professional diagnostic and classification measures. Would go along ways towards allievating most, never all, after all it is Prison. Of this Horrid crime, that ruins already ruined lives. It goes beyond that and this is off topic in the mannar chronic masturbater"s are handled and penalized (pun intended) mostly laughing it off, or in their macho B.S. claiming men will be men and Women should'nt work here. Bottom line.Let the corrections committees, in cognito spend a week behind bars
ReplyDeleteI would like to hear a few sheriff's weigh in on PREA. There were a few who said "not in my jail."
ReplyDelete10:41 just from your stupid comments I can tell you know nothing about juvenile.
ReplyDelete