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Lance Lowry, who recently retired after 20 years as a corrections officer, outside the Huntsville Unit in Texas.
News November 1
As Corrections Officers Quit in Droves, Prisons Get Even More Dangerous
Fewer guards lead to more lockdowns, rising tensions and scant access to healthcare.
By Keri Blakinger, Jamiles Lartey, Beth Schwartzapfel, Mike Sisak and Christie Thompson
News March 29
Texas Prisons Stopped In-Person Visits and Limited Mail. Drugs Got in Anyway.
Guards smuggle in most contraband, people who live in or work at prisons say.
By Keri Blakinger and Jolie Mccullough
At the Polunsky Unit in Livingston, Texas, prisoners have told their families that they have gathered snow into buckets so that they can flush dorm toilets.
News February 19
Inside Frigid Texas Prisons: Broken Toilets, Disgusting Food, Few Blankets
The deep freeze has been terrible for many Texans, but prisoners have little way to get warm.
By Keri Blakinger
News December 13, 2020
Prisoners Are Setting Fires To Protest Pandemic Conditions
But many Texas prisons don’t have working fire alarms.
By Keri Blakinger
At Briscoe Unit and many other prisons across Texas, prisoners have defeated locks using tools such as a shoelace and a bar of soap.
News August 11, 2020
Breaking Out With A Bar of Soap
In Texas, prisoners are opening their cells to chat—and to riot.
By Keri Blakinger
Letters written by Timothy Bazrowx while he was at the Wynne Unit in Huntsville, Texas.
Coronavirus May 2, 2020
“We All Have An Expiration Date”: The Death of a Prison Writer
Among the many incarcerated people who have died from COVID-19 was Marshall Project contributor Timothy Bazrowx, one of Texas' best chroniclers of prison life.
By Maurice Chammah
Women at the Hilltop Unit in Gatesville, Texas, sewed face masks in a video produced by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
Coronavirus April 30, 2020
Texas Prison Officers: We Asked For Face Masks In 2017. COVID-19 Got Here First.
A state spokesman says the system has more than 100,000 N95 masks, but it’s unclear how many have been given to officers or prisoners.
By Keri Blakinger
Life Inside January 25, 2018
The Misery of “Medical Chain”
When a trip to the hospital means spending hours on a cramped bus handcuffed to another prisoner.
By Deidre Mcdonald
Life Inside February 16, 2017
A Mother Visits Her Son, Who’s Condemned to Die in April
‘I can’t touch him and comfort him.’
By Marilyn Shankle-Grant as told to Maurice Chammah
This image featuring Benny Medina (drums) appears on the back of the 1972 album "Behind the Walls." Music featured on the record was written and performed by inmates housed for a system-wide contest organized by the Texas Department of Corrections.
Looking Back May 30, 2016
The Real Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Had a Father in Prison
And he played drums in a prison band.
By Maurice Chammah
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