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Chronicle: JPI report illuminates sources of Harris jail overcrowding

By Gritsforbreakfast

How many times have we seen this headline, "Harris County Jail filled beyond capacity" (April 2), or something similar, in the Houston Chronicle?Too many, for my tastes. Either county officials need to fix overcrowding problems at the jail, or else the Chronicle needs to buy its headline writers a thesaurus. I'm guessing "both" might be too much to ask for.At least reporter Bill Murphy spiced up the story with poignant analysis from the just-released Justice Policy Institute report (pdf) on local jails, which he said "appeared in line" with Harris County's experience. Let's just identify a few highlights from Murphy's story. For starters, he buried his lead, leaving this startling statistic until the final lines of the story:Two years ago, the county spent $154 million on detention, Raycraft said...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on April 02, 2008 (boomark / email).