Harris County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to develop a pilot program that would make public defenders present at bail hearings, a move aimed at reducing what officials say is the unnecessary jailing of thousands of defendants because they can't afford bail or are unfamiliar with the legal process. The pilot could lead to Harris County becoming the first county in Texas to make legal representation available at all hearings where bail is set.

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.

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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.

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A half-century ago this week, Dolores Huerta and the United Farm Workers voted to join Larry Itliong and Filipino farmworkers’ in commencing the Delano Grape Strike.

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Grand juries do important work. They determine whether individuals have committed a crime worth prosecuting. 

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Texas is on the verge of overhauling the way it selects grand jurors, shifting away from an antiquated process that critics say creates the potential for conflicts of interest.

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In a victory for prison reform groups, in-person visitations are coming back after more than two years behind screens.

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The Fort Bend County sheriff is pushing back against criticism of his agency following two reported jail suicides this fall, including a state report citing the jail for violating minimum standards.

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About $170,000 in tax money has been paid to outside attorneys to defend Harris Country officials from a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that the bail bond system discriminates against poor people, records show.

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County officials have known for some time that the Harris County jail is overcrowded with inmates who haven't yet been convicted of a crime, who are there in many instances just because they can't afford to pay bail before trial.

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