Reforming the Injustices in Texas' Criminal Legal System https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/proposals-2021/reforming-the-injustices-in-texas-criminal-legal-system https://grants.dudleytdoughertyfoundation.org/@@site-logo/sitelogo-75x75.png

Reforming the Injustices in Texas' Criminal Legal System

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Used for	The Texas Civil Rights Project’s Criminal Injustice Reform Program (CIR) strives to remedy the injustices of Texas's criminal legal system for people suffering inside and outside of jails and prisons. Our current CIR advocacy and litigation includes the following key objectives: • Felony bail reform in Harris County (Houston); and • Ending the torturous use of solitary confinement in Texas prisons. Building on this foundation, in the coming months we seek to grow our team and expand the scope of our work.
Benefits	TCRP’s efforts to reform felony bail policies in Harris County will not only transform access to justice for arrestees without means, but will also significantly impact the economic security of their families and loved ones. Similarly, the impact of solitary confinement and long term isolation not only on an individual’s psyche but also the well being of their families cannot be understated and reforming Texas’ use of solitary confinement is only one key step in holding the state accountable for perpetuating long-term mass incarceration through its prison industrial complex. Finally, with the Dudley T Dougherty Foundation’s partnership, TCRP is eager to grow our team and onboard a new Outreach Coordinator who will play a key role in expanding the reach of our work and our responsiveness to the needs and priorities of the communities we serve.
Proposal Description	Our Criminal Injustice Reform Program TCRP’s Criminal Injustice Reform Program (CIR) strives to remedy the injustices of Texas's criminal legal system for people suffering inside and outside of jails and prisons. To dismantle the drivers of mass incarceration and mass entanglement with the criminal system, we challenge the entire pipeline of disparate criminalization: unfair policing, prosecution and judicial process, probation and parole, and for-profit practices. Our approach to law, order, public safety and punishment is grounded in civil rights and intersectionality. Together with our partners, we hold stakeholders accountable to Texas communities in and out of the courtroom. Bail Reform Our CIR Program's legal and advocacy support recently contributed to the finalization of a historic misdemeanor bail reform agreement for Harris County (which encompasses the City of Houston), setting in place new protections for people accused of minor offenses in the country’s third-largest criminal legal system. TCRP, alongside our coalition partners, contributed to a 2019 court victory that resulted in most misdemeanor arrestees automatically qualifying for release without paying cash bail, reversing the years-long practice of detaining 40% of them throughout the duration of their cases simply because they were poor. Now, we are engaged in similar litigation and advocacy to reform Harris county’s felony bail system, which has devastating consequences for impoverished arrestees and their families and frequently coerces guilty pleas. We aim to ensure that felony arrestees are afforded their due Constitutional protection against wrongful deprivation of the right to bodily liberty—the most important right protected by the Constitution, other than the right to life itself. This reform project will impact the nearly 30,000 people — who are disproportionately Black and brown, and enduring financial hardship—locked up pre-trial on felony charges each year in the county, as well as their loved ones who also endure the damaging consequences. Ending Torturous Conditions of Confinement Solitary confinement is a barbaric and torturous practice that strips people of their dignity. For years, policymakers in Texas have known of the severe harm caused by holding people in isolation. Yet Texas continues to hold thousands of people in isolation for years on end, sometimes decades. On average, people placed in solitary confinement in Texas spend approximately five years in isolation. Texas holds more prisoners in prolonged solitude—six years or longer—than all the other states and the Federal Bureau of Prisons combined. In late 2019, TCRP published Torture by Another Name: Solitary Confinement in Texas, our comprehensive report detailing the current use of isolation in the Texas criminal justice system. In 2020, we secured the co-counsel of Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody, and have moved forward with preparations for litigation. Broadly, our campaign seeks to change the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s (TDCJ) policy so that prisoners are no longer indefinitely detained in solitary, and that they receive individual assessments, privileges, and release based on behavior. Our Criminal Injustice Reform Team In 2020, after a year-long, nationwide search, TCRP welcomed our new Criminal Injustice Reform Legal Director, Liyah K. Brown, who brings extensive experience leading litigation challenging prison conditions, most recently at the Southern Poverty Law Center, and previously at the American Civil Liberties Union. Liyah will supervise our ongoing conditions work and direct the expansion of our Criminal Injustice Reform Program, including adding a new Senior Attorney and an Outreach Coordinator to Staff Attorney Peter Steffensen, Manne Fellow/Attorney Cameron Clark, and Paralegal Christopher Rivera. This grant funding would partially fund our new Outreach Coordinator position, which is critical to deepening our advocacy work with partner organizations.