Dallas County is a massive driver of people into the adult prison system – second only to Harris County (Houston) – and home of the state’s second-largest county jail population. Furthermore, youth of color are disproportionately impacted by the school-to-prison pipeline in Dallas, especially those attending schools in South and West Dallas.
During 2017 and 2018, TCJE began working alongside advocates in Dallas, informally lending our policy expertise and continuing our efforts to bridge organizing and statewide policy change, specifically as it relates to safe reductions in justice system involvement and elimination of the associated racial disparities.
In 2019, TCJE formally expanded our office to the Dallas area, hiring Leon Theodore as our Dallas County Justice Project Advocate. Informed by his own lived experience in the justice system, Leon builds coalitions throughout the city and county and works to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline.