JAILHOUSE STORIES
Voices of Pretrial Detention in Texas
PROBLEMS IN THE SYSTEM
Jailhouse Stories features personal testimonies about the devastating effects of incarcerating people who are still innocent in the eyes of the law, yet are punished by abusive treatment and harmful conditions. Learn more about the major issues below.*
POOR MEDICAL CARE & DEATH
A jail’s failure to provide medications or to treat health conditions can have devastating, sometimes deadly consequences. The most frequent plea for help from people in county jails surrounds the issue of inadequate medical care. Requests to see a doctor are denied or delayed, and many jails refuse to grant access to a wide variety of prescribed medications, even when such medicine is essential – such as insulin.
During 2014 & 2015, 174 inmates died in county jails. Of these lives lost, 129 were in pretrial detention, awaiting a determination on their cases.
UNTREATED MENTAL ILLNESS & SUICIDE
Estimates of the number of county jail inmates with mental health disorders range from 20% to 40%. However, access to psychiatric prescriptions, evaluations, and mental health support is severely limited in most Texas jails. This jeopardizes the wellbeing of tens of thousands of people. Medications that require life-long adherence to treatment, such as antipsychotics for schizophrenia and mood stabilizers for bipolar disorder, are routinely denied. Solitary confinement is often used in their place.
During 2014 & 2015, 47 inmates committed suicide in Texas county jails. Eighty percent of those individuals were pretrial, and had not been convicted of their charges.
LACK OF CARE DURING PREGNANCY
On average, 450 pregnant women are jailed each month in Texas. Many jails do not provide proper medical care, conditions or nutrition for pregnant women. This can have detrimental affects on children's health for the rest of their lives. And both mother and child are endangered when women are shackled during labor, childbirth or postpartum recovery.
LENGTHY PRETRIAL INCARCERATION
A single charge can take months or even years to reach disposition or go to trial. People without the financial resources to post a money bail will remain in custody for the entire length of the case. The effect is a criminalization of poverty: freedom is determined by access to wealth rather than guilt or threat to public safety.
SOLITARY & INHUMANE CONDITIONS
Solitary confinement is condemned as a form of torture, yet it is frequently used in Texas jails -- especially for people who are pregnant, who have mental illnesses, or who are LGBTQ.
Other inhumane conditions include extreme cold, inadequate clothing, lack of clean water and nutritious food, and poor sanitation. The common practice of releasing people from jail after midnight with no resources or transportation also poses great risk to individual safety and results in increased victimization.
DAMAGE TO FAMILY AND COMMUNITY
Jailing people prior to conviction often breaks up families and results in devastating separation from partners, the loss of custody of children and traumatic effects on those children, and fewer caregivers for the elderly and disabled. Financial and emotional hardship punishes not only the accused but their families, as well.
Many jails use solitary confinement in place of protection or medical care.
This is Bill's drawing of his solitary confinement cell.
