This Is What It Takes to Keep the Jail From Overflowing

Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, says she hasn’t seen another jail-based group in Texas take such an individualized approach to cases. There is very little public oversight of jails, including levels of capacity and who’s incarcerated, she says. “This is a really smart, much needed approach,” Deitch says. “Without that, it is so hard to keep all the different players on track.” The impact goes beyond taxpayer dollars. “Peoples’ lives are deeply, deeply affected by the experience of incarceration,” she says. “Many of them experience trauma that ends up affecting their lives after release as well. And it actually sends a lot of people into poverty.”