In Texas youth prisons, children trapped in their cells use water bottles and lunch trays for toilets

At Giddings State School, a Texas juvenile prison, youths reported regularly soiling their cells this summer because there weren’t enough officers to take them to the bathroom. (Credit: Jolie McCullough/The Texas Tribune)

Throughout this summer, children in Texas’ youth prison system have repeatedly been trapped in their cells, forced to urinate in water bottles and defecate on the floor.

For months, children in at least two of five state lockups reported regularly lacking access to toilets as the Texas Juvenile Justice Department’s workforce shrunk below dangerous levels. Calls for immediate action by juvenile justice advocates and dozens of lawmakers to address the crisis have largely gone unanswered by Gov. Greg Abbott.