Legislators plan to review state jail standards

Sandra Bland’s suicide in the Waller County Jail on July 13 was the 140th time that detainees in Texas county jails have taken their own lives since authorities began compiling jail suicide statistics six years ago.

Read the rest of this article at San Antonio Express-News.

The right choices

America’s bloated prison system has stopped growing. Now it must shrink.

Read the rest of this article at The Economist.

Report offers fixes for Harris County jail

After decades of America's incarceration mania, U.S. Supreme Court Justices Anthony Kennedy and Stephen Breyer recently told a congressional committee in Washington that America's criminal justice system is broken and that long, mandatory minimum sentences in correctional institutions that don't correct is a terrible idea.

Read the rest of this article at the Houston Chronicle.

UT study finds longer incarceration for girls, but why remains unclear

When Erin Espinosa was a probation officer in Texas, she often found herself between a rock and a hard place when she had to decide whether to keep a girl detained after committing a crime or return her on probation to a troubled home.

Read the rest of this article at myStatesman.

Can Skype-Like Video Chats Replace In-Person Jail Visits?

In Texas, jails in Travis and Bastrop counties have completely done away with in-person inmate visits, but it has led some to question the legality of the cost-cutting measure.

Read the rest of this article at Government Technology.

The Death Of Victoria Gray: How Texas Jails Are Failing Their Most Vulnerable Captives

If a reporter asks John Gray to do an in-person interview, he insists that the backdrop is the same: The Brazoria County Jail, in Angleton, Texas, just south of Houston.

Read the rest of this article at ThinkProgess.

Texas prison rehabilitation revolution catches eye of UK justice minister

You might expect a foreign visitor eager to learn about the penal system in the Lone Star State to head for the Texas Prison Museum near Houston, to check out the star exhibit.

Read the rest of this article at The Guardian.