CONTACT Vol 22.4 Oct 2017
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THE OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER OF TEXAS INMATE FAMILIES ASSOCIATION Vol. 22 No. 4 Oct Justice Alliance and its partners, the were threatened by flood waters. This Texas Inmate Families Association, Texas involved moving approximately 4,500 Criminal Justice Coalition, American Civil offenders to higher ground. Later, two Liberties Union, Epicenter, the Campaign additional prisons were evacuated for Youth Justice, Grassroots Leadership, because of the Brazos, the Vance and and the Campaign for Fair Sentencing of Jester 3 Units in Richmond affecting Youth will host the first annual Second approximately another 1,400 inmates Look Summit. This Summit brings assigned to those two facilities. together families of those currently and Eventually over 6,000 inmates were Second Look Summit formerly incarcerated, formerly incarcer- evacuated and relocated to prisons ated youth, survivors of crime, and throughout East Texas. Nov 17-18, 2017 community stakeholders to discuss the incarceration of youth in Texas prisons. The Beaumont area was also significantly Every year in Texas more than 20,000 impacted by flood waters associated with youth are arrested and charged as adults. The meeting will take place at the the hurricane but it was decided that the Currently 6,500 people are in Texas state Legislative Conference Center located at Stiles, Gist, and LeBlanc units would prisons for crimes they committed before 1100 Congress Avenue - E2.002 Austin, shelter in place. During the storm, there they could legally vote. TX 78701. were power outages and the city’s water system was damaged resulting in low In Texas, youth are routinely sent to Texas The Lone Star Justice Alliance and its water pressure. TDCJ brought in additional adult prisons either because they are (1) amazing partners have also joined staff and resources including generators 17 years old at the time of the commitment together to provide scholarships for travel and water while the city worked to restore offense and therefore adults under Texas to the Second Look Summit. If you are power and repair their water system. law, (2) certified to stand trial as adults or interested in attending the Summit, but (3) completing their determinate sentences travel costs are a barrier, please apply In the middle of September, TDCJ began after aging out of the juvenile justice for a scholarship. You can visit the LSJA the process of repopulating the evacuated system. website to register & apply for a units but Judge Ellison ruled that 600 scholarship at http://www.lonestarjusticeal- inmates evacuated during Hurricane Research has shown that certain areas liance.org/secondlook2017.html n Harvey from the Stringfellow unit to the of the brain, particularly those that affect largely-vacant Wallace Pack Unit must be judgment and decision-making, do not immediately protected from dangerous fully develop until the early 20’s. The US Heat, Hurricane and indoor heat at the facility. They are now Supreme Court stated in its 2005 Roper v. part of a protected class that sued the Simmons decision, “the reality that TDCJ Pack facility. juveniles still struggle to define their In August, after a scathing rebuke from identity means it is less supportable to U.S. District Judge Ellison, 1,000 medically On Oct 12, Judge Ellison ordered a conclude that even a heinous crime sensitive inmates from the Pack Unit were 90-day extension of his order to provide committed by a juvenile is evidence of moved to other state jails and prisons that air conditioned housing for heat-sensitive irretrievably depraved character.” do have air conditioning. Texas moved inmates at the Pack Unit. The order would about 500 inmates to the Diboll Correc- have expired in October allowing inmates We are therefore working to give those tional Center and about 425 to the Travis to be moved back to the unit. who have committed crimes in their youth State Jail in Austin. Some prisoners who a Second Look. We are asking Texas needed more medical attention were Weather has certainly presented a legislators to lower the mandatory transferred to a medical unit in Beaumont. challenge to TDCJ this summer. n minimum term before parole eligibility, and All of these units are already require the Parole Board to consider air-conditioned in the housing areas. mitigating factors as part of their assessment during a parole review.Texas Then on August 26th, Hurricane Harvey law should motivate young people to focus battered the Gulf Coast and the storm on rehabilitation and provide a path to dumped an unprecedented amount of rain redemption for those who can prove they on East Texas. With the Brazos River deserve a second chance. rising rapidly, TDCJ was faced with the difficult task of evacuating three facilities On November 17-18, 2017, the Lone Star - Terrell, Ramsey and Stringfellow – that From Board From Executive Chair Director TIFA Contact Patti Jennifer is the official newsletter of the Texas Inmate Families Association © 1996. Kassel Erschabek All rights reserved. Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not Heart for The Changing necessarily represent the policies of TIFA. Humanity Landscapes These past few months have been TIFA is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. difficult at best for many of our loved ones in the path of Hurricane Harvey. The storm The Texas political scene was ‘rocked’ in Membership in TIFA is open to anyone. October with the announcement that Joe A Basic membership is $25 per year caused over 6,000 inmates to be Straus, Speaker of the House, will not be and includes one newsletter displaced through other units due to subscription to the member address. A flooding conditions. Many people in the running for re-election. What this tells us Basic Plus membership of $35 per year free world didn’t even know or many is that the political landscape, both on the includes all family members didn’t care that this natural disaster had state and national level, will look residing in one household and the impacted so many inmates, guards and different in 2019 when once again TIFA will inmate newsletter. TDCJ units. be working on criminal justice issues. Board of Directors The first response of many Texans and What can we do in the mean time? What we can do is EDUCATE ourselves about Patti Kassel, New Braunfels US citizens was to reach out to help our citizens. The outpouring by state and the upcoming elections AND tell our Chair national relief groups was huge. We were stories. Our communities need to understand that public safety is a must but Sharon Bass, Huffman proud to be Texans helping Texans in the wake of such a tragedy. it cannot be to the detriment of our Secretary communities’ and families’ futures. So we need to tell our stories. Join us as we start After the storm calmed, the news hit how Robert Elzner, Pflugerville our new campaign to gather stories and much support had been given. Not only Treasurer share through media and social media. If by our citizens walking the streets in you are asking what you can do to help..... Texas, but also by our incarcerated Jaymi Furniss-Jones, Cedar Park do this! Thomas Sawyer, Palestine citizens of Texas. Yes, I was in tears when I read the amount of giving by our Another landscape that is changing is our Jennifer Erschabek, Austin loved ones. Here’s the quote from relationship with TDCJ. With the new Executive Director Houston (AP). “Officials say Texas prison leadership in place, Mr. Collier and Mr. inmates donated more than $53,000 from Mendoza, we are slowly starting to see Louise Elzner, Pflugerville their commissary funds to the American a crack that is allowing light to come Membership Red Cross to be used for hurricane relief. More than 6,600 inmates donated money through. Through the hurricane and the between August 31 and September 30.” hiring freeze there was an effort to share TIFA WOW! more information with families than ever P.O. Box 300220 before. Austin, Texas 78703-0004 Office: (512) 371-0900 And this wasn’t the first time, our loved The hiring freeze has resulted in Wind- www.tifa.org ones came to the aid after a natural ham positions not being hired, resulting in [email protected] disaster. In 2005 after Katrina, inmates classes not being available. But with the donated more than $40,000 to the hiring of a new Division Director, Rene And you can find us on Facebook. American Red Cross. This is the love for Hinojosa, we expect new opportunities humanity at its finest. from the Rehabilitation Programs Division. Note: We read all mail that is received but cannot answer every letter. Our Thank you, thank you to all our mission is strengthening families incarcerated loved ones that donated and But we also promise to continue to work through support, education and to all that wished they could. It’s not on the grievance system and the treatment advocacy. always the action, because many don’t of our loved ones while they are in TDCJ. have the means, but it is about the love for our fellow man and thought that goes Our voice is being heard and every day we behind it. This action represented all are gaining new partners, not only in the inmates and showed us that we can have fight for criminal justice change but also for an impact on the world around us no the treatment of our loved ones while they matter our circumstances. n are in the TDCJ. We hear you and we are here for you! You are not alone! n 2 Thus the grievance issue should be clear, someone is asking for our help.