Thread by @jsmccullou

Yesterday, I was laid off by @TexasTribune after nearly 9 years.

New leadership got rid of its longest-tenured reporters and said they’ll no longer cover the criminal justice beat.

No one on police, prisons, courts, the death penalty. In Texas.

Here’s some of what we’ll lose:

@TexasTribune 1) When Texas created a new criminal system for migrants on the fly, I tracked it at every step, reporting on the endless stream of law enforcement errors and illegal detentions.

This work led to a DOJ investigation (and several awards for the Tribune) texastribune.org/2021/09/27/tex…

@TexasTribune Last year, I exposed how a staffing crisis in youth prisons trapped kids in cells up to 23 hours a day — without toilets. Nearly half of Texas’ imprisoned children had been on suicide watch.

This led to a state hearing and House priority legislation. texastribune.org/2022/08/02/tex…

@TexasTribune 3) This year, I revealed that youth prison officials seeking to ease the crisis began pushing more kids into the adult prison system. One boy killed himself shortly after his transfer. texastribune.org/2023/04/28/tex…

@TexasTribune 4) I’ve also repeatedly explained the chaos of prosecuting marijuana in a hemp world — most recently by showing how high school kids with vape pens are getting jailed on felony charges, even though police can’t tell if the pen has an illegal substance. texastribune.org/2023/02/22/tex…

5) And for years, I’ve been religiously reporting on the dangerous heat in prisons during Texas’ increasingly hot summers.

In a historic move this year, the House pushed to spend $545M to cool the prisons. The Senate cut it. texastribune.org/2023/06/28/tex…

This is just some of the stuff I’ve done recently. It’s terrible to know the Tribune won’t do work like it anymore.

I am so sorry to the hundreds of thousands in prison, jail or elsewhere in the system. And for the countless more who love them. Mostly, I’m sorry for all Texans.

I have a lot of thoughts about leadership failures that led us here. But I’ll just say I feel for my colleagues who were also laid off, and for the ones left to pick up the pieces.

And if you’re looking for this kind of work, please reach out. I suddenly have a lot of free time.