Gabriel City » Texas

Texas Prison Reforms

hcdmedia — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 16:30:45 +0000

According to a new report released by the Justice Department, Texas has become a successful example of a state that worked to reduce its prison population and find new solutions for nonviolent offenders.

In 2007, Texan lawmakers passed measures geared toward reducing the prison population and saving $443 million. They also invested $241 million in substance abuse and mental health treatment programs. These measures proved successful and the state’s prison population increased by .4% in 2008 (down from an average annual increase of 3% since 2003).

Texas is still considered far behind many other states in reducing its prison population, but these steps are the beginning.

According to University of Houston Law Center professor Sandra Guerra Thompson, University of Houston Law Center professor, agrees: “We’re way behind many other states, and we have a long way to go to catch up.” But, she said, “There seems to have been a change recently, a more nuanced approach.”

Execution in Texas

hcdmedia — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:13:44 +0000

Bobby Wayne Woods was executed yesterday in Texas after serving on death row for the molestation and killing of his ex-girlfriend’s daughter. Lawyers fiercely debated the constitutionality of Woods’ execution because his IQ hovered around the range of a mentally retarded person. The Supreme Court refused to hear his case.

In 2002 the Supreme Court ruled in the case of Atkins vs Virginia that the mentally impaired could not be given the death penalty, however left the evaluation of this impairment up to the states. The IQ cutoff for mental impairment varies by state.

Forthcoming Execution in Texas Stirs National Debate

hcdmedia — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 16:46:48 +0000

A man convicted in the state of Texas of molesting and killing his former girlfriend’s daughter is scheduled to be executed today unless the Supreme Court agrees to hear his case. The man, Bobby Wayne Woods, has an IQ in the range of someone mentally retarded. Courts have refused to recognize him as so, but his lawyer claims that he is mentally retarded and therefore should be spared execution.

Innocent but Executed

hcdmedia — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:24:30 +0000

In 2004 Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas. Until his death he claimed his innocence. Now, years later, a New Yorker article investigates Willingham’s case and finds that there is forensic proof that Willingham was indeed innocent.

Barry Scheck, co-director of the Innocence Project writes an article for the Huffington Post about the need to improve on forensic testing in the United States. Read the article here.

And read the New Yorker expose here.

Female Prisoners in Texas

hcdmedia — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:06:07 +0000

More of Ava Berkofsky’s photography can be found on her website.