This article analyzes more than 400 deaths in jail custody in Texas and finds that Texas’s patchwork regulatory system repeatedly fails to ensure safe conditions behind bars. Michele’s research on jail oversight is cited to provide a comparative perspective on the state’s regulatory practices for local jails and the effectiveness of minimum standards.

In an article describing a landmark class-action lawsuit over the substandard privatized medical care provided in Arizon’s prisons, The Marshall Project quotes PJIL Director Michele Deitch on the cost of litigation outweighing the cost of providing adequate care.

No one knows what goes on inside," said Michele Deitch, an attorney and senior lecturer at the University of Texas Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs.

In this article about the ways agencies are continuing to shield data about the impact of COVID-19 in prisons, Michele responds to TDCJ’s claim that it waits for autopsy results before reporting deaths in custody due to COVID. The article also highlights findings from, “Hidden Figures,” our report detailing a lack of data transparency regarding the impact of COVID-19 in state prisons, local jails and state-run juvenile facilities during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Commenting on the circumstances that contributed to the death of a man in custody at the Bexar County Jail in San Antonio, TX, Michele describes the problems facing county jails as they struggle to mitigate the spread of COVID, especially as population levels continued to increase during the pandemic.

Asked about the U.S. Department of Justice launching a civil rights investigation into the abuse of children housed at the Texas Juvenile Justice Department’s state secure facilities, Michele explains that it will be important for the DOJ to assess how much the location and size of the facilities and the severe understaffing may have contributed to the problems that were identified.

Describing the factors that may contribute to the rise in jail and prison suicides over the last 2 decades, this article reprinted a quote Michele provided The Marshall Project in their story about pandemic conditions potentially exacerbating the risk factors for suicide attempts.

Summary

In an article about a farm-based re-entry program in North Carolina for women after they are released from prison, Alycia describes the role of supportive programs in the bigger picture of criminal justice reform.

Michele is quoted on the potential impact of two bills moving through the legislative process—one that would waive jail standards for immigrants and another that would create climate control requirements for state prisons.