Four deaths in two weeks: What’s behind the surge in violence at one Texas prison

“You simply can't operate a safe facility with that many staff positions left vacant,” Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, told the Houston Chronicle. “Supervision checks are left undone; staff don't want to intervene in incidents because there is no backup; and lockdowns are more frequent because staff are not available to take people to programs."