Prison Reform

LBJ's Michele Deitch talks with the Texas Tribune about the protocols and policies enforced by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice

As COVID-19 rages and populations rise, jails are struggling to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks. And when they do occur, facilities have trouble keeping sick inmates separate from others in the general population. Local jails across Texas are filling up with inmates ready to be sent to state prisons. At the Bexar County Jail, nearly 400 inmates set to be transferred to the state system have yet to be picked up. LBJ's Michele Deitch joins a panel of experts to weigh in.

"There are more than 100 state-run jails and prisons in Texas. Only about one in four have air conditioning in inmate housing areas. As Texas enters what could be the hottest month of the year,...

The Marshall Project uses and cites research on jail oversight by LBJ's Michele Deitch.

LBJ's Michele Deitch talked with Wendy Davis about the criminal justice system — and conditions within it — during the COVID-19 pandemic.

California's jail oversight board on Wednesday said it would collect and publish data about COVID-19 cases in county facilities, a response to months of public criticism and an apparently faltering effort to get similar information from the state's health department. "The need for this information is just so obvious," said LBJ's Michele Deitch last month.

One hundred inmates at the Land O' Lakes Detention Center have tested positive for coronavirus over the past two and a half weeks, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said. LBJ's Michele Deitch said that the turnover in jails, which generally hold people awaiting trial or serving sentences of less than a year, pose a heightened threat to those inside and outside because of high turnover. Many arrestees are booked in and released within 24 hours, either after posting bail or with a promise to appear in court later.

LBJ's Michele Deitch discusses a murder in an Amarillo prison locked down because of COVID-19.

One hundred inmates at the Land O' Lakes Detention Center have tested positive for coronavirus over the past two and a half weeks, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said.

"More than three months into the coronavirus pandemic, California officials say they still have no plans to collect and publish basic data about COVID-19 testing and outbreaks in local jails, frustrating advocates, families and even some members of the state’s own jail oversight board. ... "'The need for this information is just so obvious,' said LBJ's Michele Deitch. 'Finding out the numbers of people that are infected and how widespread the virus is, how many people are dying, just seems like the most basic information they should be gathering.'"