Civil Rights Organization Demands That Police Department Train Officers on De-Escalation of Violence The South Texas Civil Rights Project (STCRP) is calling for a full and open investigation into the Jan. 4, 2012 deadly shooting by police of a Brownville middle school student. Fifteen-year-old Jaime Gonzalez was shot by Brownsville police officers while allegedly holding a pellet gun at Cummings Middle School. Police claimed that the boy had plenty of time to lower the pellet gun before … [Read more...]
STCRP Calls for Investigation of Police Involved Shooting Death of Brownsville Student
January 18, 2012 By
TCRP Warns Texas Prison System about Unconstitutional Health Care
January 9, 2012 By
The Texas Civil Rights Project has sent a letter to the Texas Sunset Advisory Commission urging reform of the Texas prison health care system. “Texas prison health care teetered on the edge of unconstitutionality [before the last legislative session],” wrote Jim Harrington, Director of the Texas Civil Rights Project. But now, because of recent cuts the legislature made to the prison health care budget, “[h]ealth care in the Texas prison system has, or soon will, become … [Read more...]
TCRP Letter to Texas Sunset Advisory Commission about Prison Health Care Crisis
January 9, 2012 By
Note: the following letter was sent on Nov. 30, 2011. Sunset Advisory Commission Austin, TX 78701 Dear Members of the Sunset Advisory Commission and Rep. Dennis Bonnen, Chair: I hope you are well. In light of your mandate to review the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), the Board of Pardons and Paroles (”Parole Board”), and the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee, I am writing to express my deep concern about the abysmal condition of health care within the … [Read more...]
STCRP Files Federal Suit for Citizens Denied Social Security Numbers
January 4, 2012 By
Applicant files suit to protect his fundamental right to due process TCRP’s Rio Grande Valley office, the South Texas Civil Rights Project (STCRP), has filed a federal lawsuit in U.S. District Court in McAllen on behalf of a U.S. citizen, who could never get a Social Security number in McAllen because the Social Security Administration’s deliberate effort to delay issuance of numbers to older applicants or those born by mid-wives. Carlos Muñoz, born in Pharr, Texas, filed an … [Read more...]