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Keri Blakinger Profile picture
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21 Jul, 4 tweets, 1 min read
#BREAKING As of yesterday, Texas began transferring arrested immigrants into a state prison, per Abbott’s order.

This is TDCJ statement on it:
Here’s some background about what is going on:
It’s not clear yet how many they have already moved there, but previously they said they expected around 1000 total. I have asked if any other units are earmarked for this same repurposing and have not gotten an official response on that.
So far, just three immigrants have been moved to the unit.

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More from @keribla

Keri Blakinger Profile picture
22 Jul
A few months after he went to prison, a dentist pulled all of Nicholas Bailey’s teeth. “I’m in pain,” he wrote, begging for dentures. “I cannot eat because I have no teeth.” My latest column w/@NBCNews is a look at dental care in Michigan prisons. Thread: themarshallproject.org/2021/07/22/i-h…
This story is mostly about Michigan, but the basics are something I remember well: Even when it’s actually adequate, prison and jail medical and dental care is hard to get. That was something that shocked me when I got locked up myself. nbcnews.com/news/us-news/m…
Back in 2011, I was in jail in upstate NY when a chunk of my tooth fell out. The jail had a rule that they wouldn’t treat cavities, so they gave me a choice: Get it pulled or be in pain.
Read 13 tweets
Keri Blakinger Profile picture
22 Jun
#breaking There were two homicides in two Texas prisons this past weekend, including one in which a group of 7+ men allegedly killed another man right there in the cell block in front of cameras. Here’s what I know so far:
The first of the killings was at the Beto Unit, a maximum-security unit in Palestine. It happened around 5:30 when staff found a 39-year-old Black man unresponsive in the cell block. He was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
This is the one where there were multiple people involved – at least seven. Unclear how they killed him.

Prison officials did not say whether it was on camera but other sources are telling me it was, and that it is suspected to be gang-related.
Read 11 tweets
Keri Blakinger Profile picture
17 Jun
#BREAKING Multiple sources tell me the Governor’s office has ordered TDCJ to clear out the prisoners from one state prison - Briscoe Unit - so it can hold immigrants picked up by Texas state troopers for low-level charges as part of Operation Lone Star.
The governor’s office has not responded and TDCJ would only confirm that they cleared out the unit. They directed further questions to Abbott. In addition to several anonymous sources, I got confirmation from @GeneforTexas, who called it “morally, ethically &legally unacceptable”
Per Wu, this is all a recent development that came up in the course of budget discussions, when the state let TDCJ know they would need the Briscoe Unit to be cleared out.

For background, the Briscoe Unit is an extremely troubled unit with broken locks: themarshallproject.org/2020/08/11/bre…
Read 15 tweets
Keri Blakinger Profile picture
17 Jun
42 people who'd already been approved for parole died in Texas prisons during covid-- just because TDCJ hadn't gotten around to letting them out yet.

That's from the latest report by @mydeitch, who looked into the months-long release delays and how deadly they are.
18 of them died of covid, but others died of heart conditions or cancer and respiratory failure.

One died of suicide. Again, this is someone who was *already approved for parole*
The research found that there are still more than 10,000 people are approved for parole and awaiting release.

That's nearly 10 PERCENT of the Texas prison population that's already approved to NOT BE IN PRISON.
Read 5 tweets
Keri Blakinger Profile picture
16 Jun
A few weeks ago, 2 Texas prison guards at the Estelle Unit got indicted on felony bestiality charges allegedly involving a dog.

This all came to light from child porn investigation, officials said.

The indictments - which I just got this week - mention something a horse, too.
Officials tell me they were investigating allegations involving child porn, and since the accused were TDCJ staff they called in the prison inspector general. When they seized the man's phone, they allegedly phone videos of the woman having sex with a dog.
Unclear where the horse figures in -- and beyond the basics, details are sparse. Here is the narrative that OIG provided which as you will see is not particularly illuminating.
Read 4 tweets
Keri Blakinger Profile picture
15 Jun
As some have noticed, today is my birthday. If you are feeling celebratory here are some ideas:

-Buy a book for a prisoner
-Donate to @MarshallProj in my honor
-File a records request w/a prison system you hate
-Fix the Texas power grid

Any of these would make me happy.
Here is where you can donate to The Marshall Project themarshallproject.org/donate
Here is a book you can buy. It's very new so even if you pick a random prisoner they probably don't have it yet! But it's only hard back, so make sure that's ok. (Texas prisons allow hard back!) penguinrandomhouse.com/books/623832/f…
Read 5 tweets

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