Texas Correctional Institute

18/07/2026

They got one on the lam… arrested in Madisonville on a warrant. Transfer to Liberty County, escaped from Liberty County officers at HCA Hospital in Kingwood.

Escaped Inmate Wanted; Originally Picked Up In Madisonville On A Warrant

KINGWOOD, TEXAS — The Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office, Houston Police, and Harris County Sheriff’s Department are continuing an active search for an inmate who escaped custody early Saturday morning while receiving medical treatment at a Kingwood hospital.

Authorities say 31‑year‑old Yorlan Rafael Reyes fled HCA Houston Healthcare Kingwood on foot at approximately 5:30 AM on July 18, 2026. Reyes, described as a Hispanic male standing about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing roughly 190 pounds, was last seen wearing an orange Liberty County Jail jumpsuit and orange jail‑issued shoes. He was also wearing orange Crocs and white boxers.

Reyes had been transported to the Liberty County Jail on an outstanding felony warrant. He was being held on a State Jail Felony charge of Unlawful Disclosure or Promotion of Intimate Visual Material under Texas law.

During the early morning hours of July 18, he allegedly suffered a medical emergency and was taken by ambulance to the Kingwood hospital for treatment. While there, investigators say he escaped from a Liberty County correctional officer and ran from the emergency room.

The Liberty County Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division responded immediately, joined by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Investigators reviewed hospital surveillance footage and began pursuing leads. Multiple agencies, including the Texas Department of Public Safety, Houston Police, Harris County Law Enforcement and the Texas Rangers, are assisting in the search and continuing to use all available resources to locate Reyes.

Law enforcement activity at the hospital has since concluded, and officials say normal operations have resumed. The criminal investigation remains ongoing, and both counties continue to aggressively follow investigative leads.

Authorities urge anyone who sees Reyes not to approach him. Witnesses should call 911, the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office at 936-336-4500, or the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at 936-760-5800. Anonymous tips may be submitted to Multi‑County Crime Stoppers at 800‑392‑7867 or through multicountycrimestoppers.org

16/07/2026

Here’s a face everyone will remember.

Do you think this guy will have to catch out his first day in TDCJ, if convicted?

Onalaska Man Faces New Felony charges as investigators expand probe into May suspicious death case

ONALASKA, TEXAS — Polk County investigators have filed additional felony charges against Cody Allen Laviolette, 36, as the sheriff’s office continues examining his possible connection to the May 23, 2026 suspicious death of Kelly Taylor Mariah Little, a case that left Little’s three children without their mother.

Authorities say the investigation into Little’s death prompted multiple witnesses to come forward, providing evidence that led detectives to scrutinize Laviolette’s activities. As the case widened, several women also reported prior interactions with Laviolette, according to the sheriff’s department.

On the evening of July 10, 2026, deputies arrested Laviolette on two felony charges:

• Aggravated Assault (Felony 2)

• Unlawful Restraint (Felony 3)

Six days later, on July 16, 2026, investigators submitted two additional felony charges:

• Continuous Sexual Assault of a Child (Felony 1)

• Aggravated Assault causing Serious Bodily Injury with a Deadly Weapon (Felony 1)

A judge is reviewing Texas’ updated violent offender statute, which allows courts to impose no bond on certain high risk defendants. According to the sheriff’s office, the review is intended to determine whether denying bond on the new charges is warranted to protect the community and prevent further acts of violence.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office says the investigation remains active and may expand further as more individuals come forward. Detectives are urging anyone who believes they may have been a victim or who witnessed criminal activity involving Laviolette to contact investigators.

Witness information “may assist in addressing these matters and advancing the ongoing investigation,” the department said.

Individuals with information are asked to reach out to investigators Craig Finegan, Jessi Stanton, or Kayla Hemperly at the Polk County Sheriff’s Office at 936‑327‑6810.

The suspect remains in the Polk County Jail pending additional bond hearings. All suspects are innocent unless proven guilt in the court of law.

16/07/2026

TDCJ tracking dogs still tracking.

Falls County, Tx (FOX44) – A tracking dog named Todd is credited with finding a missing 90-year-old Falls County man. Todd is part of a team assigned to the Hobby Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice in Falls County. Wednesday, the Falls County Sheriff’s Department requested the team...

13/07/2026

More heat litigation lawsuits on their way. Decades of ignoring the problem hasn’t made it go away.

State hit by new wrongful death lawsuit by family of Jason Wilson, who died in ‘brutally hot, un-airconditioned’ cell

12/07/2026

Why would Governor Greg Abbott delay his filing??? Clearly the state isn’t ready with treatment beds yet… 🤔🤔🤔

Let’s see how long the 5th Circuit Court in New Orleans plays around with the this one. If I was a gambler, I would bet some new beds come online by the time they make a ruling.

Court Orders Texas To Tranfer Pre-Trial Mentally Ill Inmates To Treatment Centers Within 21 Days

By Selina Xia Zamacois

AUSTIN — A federal judge has issued a detailed, 117‑page ruling finding that the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) has for years violated the constitutional rights of criminal defendants who were found incompetent to stand trial but left waiting in county jails—often for months—without the court‑ordered mental‑health treatment required to restore their competency.

The ruling, released July 7, 2026, in Ward v. Muth, concludes a decade‑long class‑action lawsuit brought on behalf of thousands of Texans who remain jailed more than 21 days after HHSC receives a court order committing them to a state mental health facility. The court found that HHSC’s chronic lack of forensic psychiatric beds has created unlawful delays that violate the substantive due‑process protections of the Fourteenth Amendment.

“This case is a class action seeking declaratory and injunctive relief… to compel [HHSC] to timely admit class members to state mental health facilities for competency restoration treatment after they have been found incompetent to stand trial,” the ruling states.

The court found that every named plaintiff—including Joseph Ward, Marc Lawson, Jennifer Lampkin, Kenneth Jones, and Julian Torres—was held in jail far beyond the 21‑day statutory window. In one example, Ward waited more than a year before being transferred to a state hospital.

“Each Named Plaintiff… was confined in jail more than 21 days after HHSC received the orders committing them… before they began to receive those services.”

The judge emphasized that HHSC alone is responsible for admitting defendants into competency restoration programs and operating the facilities that provide those services.

HHSC “shall plan… for the proper and separate allocation of beds… for patients… committed… to attain competency to stand trial.”

The ruling details how Texas law offers only three pathways for competency restoration—outpatient programs, jail‑based programs, or inpatient state facilities—but most defendants are ineligible for the first two. Outpatient programs exist in fewer than 25% of counties, and jail‑based programs serve only a fraction of detainees.

As a result, the court found, “the vast majority” of incompetent defendants must rely on HHSC‑run inpatient facilities, where bed shortages have created long waitlists.

The judge reaffirmed that the governing legal standard is the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Jackson v. Indiana (1972), which prohibits states from holding incompetent defendants indefinitely without timely restoration services.

The court previously rejected HHSC’s argument that the delays should be judged under a more lenient “rational basis”

In an unusual move, Governor Greg Abbott filed an amicus brief nearly ten years into the litigation, arguing that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) should govern the case and limit the court’s ability to order relief.

The judge accepted the filing but noted its lateness and addressed the PLRA arguments separately in the ruling.

The ruling sets the stage for potential court‑ordered remedies requiring HHSC to expand forensic psychiatric capacity, reduce wait times, and comply with statutory deadlines for admitting incompetent defendants.

The court has not yet issued its final injunction, but the findings signal that major operational changes may soon be mandated for Texas’s mental‑health and criminal‑justice systems.

12/07/2026

Texas prison system preparing to add 5,600 beds as inmate numbers rise

HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS — The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is moving forward with a large-scale expansion that will add roughly 5,600 new beds across facilities statewide, a response to projections that the state’s incarcerated population will continue to grow.

During the most recent legislative session, lawmakers approved hundreds of millions of dollars in new appropriations for the agency. More than $300 million of that funding is designated specifically for the construction of 14 expansion dorms at prisons throughout Texas. The investment is intended to ensure the system can accommodate expected population increases, according to a statement provided to the Houston Chronicle by agency spokesperson Hannah Haney.

A departmental report shows that as of Aug. 31, 2025, TDCJ facilities housed nearly 139,000 inmates. In fiscal year 2025 alone, more than 56,300 people entered state-operated prisons. More prison dorms are being planned as a cost saving measure.

One of the first projects in the pipeline is a new 50,000‑square‑foot corrections unit planned for the Memorial Unit in Brazoria County, which holds men in custody ranging from low to high security levels. TDCJ filed its construction application with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation on Thursday. The new unit will accommodate 400 inmates, with construction scheduled to begin in October and wrap up in spring 2028. The Memorial Unit currently holds just over 1,900 inmates, according to agency data.

Similar filings were submitted Tuesday for two additional prisons: the John Montford Unit in Lubbock and the Hamilton Unit in Bryan. The Montford Unit serves as a medical and psychiatric facility and has a capacity of just under 1,000 inmates. The Hamilton Unit, a pre‑release facility, can house more than 1,100 inmates.

Haney told the Houston Chronicle the department also plans to build expansion dorms at 10 more facilities located in Edinburg, Venus, Bonham, Richmond, Austin, Cleveland, El Paso, Dayton, and Navasota. She said these sites were selected because they are adequately staffed and located in areas with a strong labor pool, which is critical for operating additional housing units.

See more information at:
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/trending/article/tdcj-prisons-jails-texas-inmate-population-22339044.php

11/07/2026

Prison Rodeo??? Why not?? Should TDCJ bring back the prison rodeo, possibly using another Houston area venue?

For 55 years, from 1931 to 1986, Texas prisoners were given the chance to participate in a wild west rodeo every October as thousands of spectators paid to watch.

09/07/2026

Cross your fingers and KEEP PAPER BACKUPS!!!

TDCJ Employees May Face Temporary Payroll Disruptions

HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS — The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) will switch to a new statewide payroll and personnel system on July 13, 2026, a change that affects nearly 36,000 employees across Texas.

The agency is moving to the Centralized Accounting and Payroll/Personnel System (CAPPS), a platform used by many other state agencies to standardize payroll, timekeeping, and personnel records.

For the public, this transition is part of a broader modernization effort across Texas government. For employees, it represents a major shift in how time is entered, pay is calculated, and personal information is managed and large transitions like this often come with short term technical challenges.

Although CAPPS is designed to improve accuracy and efficiency, switching thousands of employees to a new system overnight can create temporary issues. The most common problems during statewide IT rollouts include:

When a new system goes live, servers can become overloaded. Employees may temporarily be unable to log in, reset passwords, or access their accounts. Human errors will occur.

CAPPS uses different time reporting codes than TDCJ’s older system. If employees enter the wrong codes or the system misinterprets transferred data, paychecks could show:

• Missing overtime
• Incorrect leave balances
• Reduced or delayed pay

High traffic during the first week may cause slow loading, frozen screens, or delays in submitting time.

Moving years of payroll and personnel data into a new system can lead to occasional mistakes, such as:

• Incorrect personal information
• Missing vacation or sick time
• Duplicate entries

During transitions, rapid‑fire updates, fixes, and new instructions will occur. TDCJ has already advised staff to check email daily for new information.

The agency has released training videos, user guides, and “cheat sheets” to help employees learn the new system before July 13. These materials explain how to enter time, update personal information, access tax documents, and avoid common errors.

Training and FAQs are available on the agency’s website.

The July 13 switch to CAPPS is a routine modernization effort for a large state agency, but it may cause temporary payroll or login issues for some employees as the system stabilizes. TDCJ states it is committed to supporting staff and resolving problems quickly during the transition.

TDCJ employees should monitor and keep independent records of times worked. Regardless of any possible errors in the system, TDCJ is required to follow state and Federal employment laws when it comes to issuing payroll in a correct and timely manner.

07/07/2026

K2 has not only killed many inmates in prison over the years, it has also killed hard covered books.

Inside Books Project volunteers have sent used books to Texas inmates for nearly 30 years. A new crackdown is threatening their work.

05/07/2026

“All Hail State Pen”🖊️

Even in the Satanic World, the pen🖊️ is mightier than the horns 🤘

TDCJ Death Row Inmate’s Satanism Religious Claim Denied In Attempt to Overturn Death Sentence

By Selina Xia Zamacois

NEW ORLEANS, LA — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has upheld a lower court’s decision denying federal habeas corpus relief to Irving Alvin Davis, a Texas inmate sentenced to death for the 1998 r**e and murder of 15‑year‑old Melissa Medina in El Paso.

The ruling, issued July 3, found that Davis failed to show any constitutional error that would justify overturning the state court’s judgment.

Medina’s body was discovered in the parking lot of an elementary school. Court records describe severe blunt‑force injuries, internal trauma, and evidence of sexual assault. Davis was convicted of capital murder in 2002.

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals later ordered a new punishment hearing, and in 2008 Davis was again sentenced to death. During that resentencing, prosecutors introduced Davis’s drawings, writings, and statements referencing Satanism to argue he posed a future danger to society, a required finding for a death sentence in Texas.

Davis challenged the use of that evidence, arguing it violated his First Amendment rights. He also claimed his attorneys were ineffective for failing to properly challenge the material and for other alleged errors. After state courts rejected those arguments, Davis sought relief in federal court.

Under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), federal courts must defer to state court decisions unless they are contrary to clearly established federal law or based on unreasonable factual determinations. The Fifth Circuit concluded Davis did not meet that standard.

Key points from the ruling:

• First Amendment Claim: The court agreed with the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals that the evidence related to Davis’s Satanism was used to demonstrate future dangerousness, not to punish him for protected religious or expressive beliefs. Because the state court applied established Supreme Court precedent, the Fifth Circuit found no constitutional violation.

• Ineffective Assistance of Counsel: The appellate court held that Davis failed to show his attorneys’ performance was deficient or that any alleged errors affected the outcome. The state habeas court’s findings were entitled to deference.

• AEDPA Deference: The opinion emphasized that federal habeas review is “highly deferential” and that Davis did not demonstrate that the state courts acted unreasonably in rejecting his claims.

The Fifth Circuit affirmed the district court’s judgment, leaving Davis’s death sentence in place. The ruling closes another avenue of federal review and underscores the narrow path available for inmates seeking to overturn state convictions through habeas corpus.