Texas Took a Good First Step to Fix Its Troubled Youth Lockups, But It's Got a Long Way to Go

Too few guards overseeing too many youthful offenders in Texas' teen lockups is a recipe for disaster. So we are heartened to hear that the number of felons in the five facilities has dropped to its lowest point in decades.Recent releases and reassignments of about 100 of the lowest-risk inmates to halfway houses or medium-security facilities reduced the population to 900, the fewest since the 1980s. While for now the dangers are likely de-escalated, don't overlook the investigative report that says violence spiked at the lockups just before the population drop.   Continue reading...