“There is something fundamentally incongruous about putting a politician in charge of the care of people in custody,” said PJIL Director Michele Deitch
“We make it so impossible for people to start over again, and of course that just pushes people back into the underground economy and illegal ways of making a living.” - PJIL Director Michele Deitch
"any move towards corporal punishment would be a real setback to those gains that have been made and that really have been in the right direction," - PJIL Director Michele Deitch
Alycia Welch is quoted in this article on the state of mental health in Texas prisons. She addresses the role of staffing issues in TDCJ's unsafe working and living conditions. PJIL's publication on COVID-related staff deaths, Canary in the Coal Mine, is also featured in the article.
"policymakers have no way to assess the risk to incarcerated people and staff in these facilities and no information to guide an appropriate policy response" - PJIL Director Michele Deitch
"Most jails don't have functioning health care systems," said PJIL Director Michele Deitch. "They are not identifying people's medical needs. They're not addressing those needs"
This investigative story about an in-custody death highlights the use of force on people with mental health problems. PJIL's Michele criticizes the use of jails as de facto mental health facilities and highlights how they can exacerbate these issues.
In a news story on safety checks in North Carolina jails, Michele comments on the role of understaffing in deficiencies in safety checks. Michele previously served as a court-appointed prison monitor in that state.
