Grits for Breakfast

• Reduce pretrial detention to stave off jail overcrowding

  I had a conversation with someone today at the Travis County Sheriff's Office who was surprised to learn that Travis County has one of the highest rates of jailed pretrial detainees among large counties, so I thought I'd gather up the relevant data for comparison.
  
  As described on this' [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 5:26pm EST
  

• Prison Legal News sues TDCJ over book censorship

  I just received this press release via email:
  Prison Legal News – For Immediate Release
  
  November 4, 2009
  
  PUBLISHER SUES TEXAS DEPT. OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE FOR CENSORING BOOKS
  
  Corpus Christi, TX – Prison Legal News (PLN), a non-profit monthly publication that reports on criminal justice-related issues, filed [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 1:27pm EST
  

• Hump Day Roundup

  Here are several criminal-justice related items from the news that merit Grits readers' attention:
  Fort Worth may begin jury trials for red light camera tickets.TDCJ: Prisoner can't review books on sailing for pay.TYC employee accused of sex with 14-year old.Family says Sheriff shouldn't perform investigation of' [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 9:59am EST
  

• Ramshaw, Tribune tackle TYC mental illness discharges, restraint of disabled kids at school

  Yesterday I neglected to offer a bloggerly "Howdy" to our friends over at the just-launched Texas Tribune, but this morning Emily Ramshaw forces the new site onto our radar screen with coverage of TYC's policies regarding mental health discharge, focusing on a recent case in Tyler where a [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 8:14am EST
  

• More litigation, disapprobation for dog 'scent lineups'

  Yet another lawsuit will be filed today in federal court over false arrest and imprisonment based on dog "scent lineup" evidence from Fort Bend County Sheriff's Deputy Keith Pikett. Reports AP:
  

  Three men who spent months in jail after dogs linked their scents to evidence from crimes they did [...]

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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 7:42am EST