Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One app.

Get all your news in one place.

100's of premium titles. One news app.

The Latest Breaking News from TJJD

Why more Tarrant County kids are going to Texas youth prisons than any others

The rising number of youth sent from counties like Tarrant is helping to push the waitlist for beds in youth prisons to near an all-time high, the state says.

The Texas Tribune · Oct 28, 2025

Dallas juvenile detention center isolated kids and falsified documents, state investigation says

A Texas Juvenile Justice Department report says Dallas County officers kept kids in their sleeping quarters for days at a time and faked school attendance logs.

The Texas Tribune · Sep 10, 2024

Federal investigators find horrific ‘pattern of abuse’ at juvenile detention centers in Texas

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said the centers violate the US constitution

The Independent UK · Aug 2, 2024

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

Justice Department finds Texas juvenile detention centers violated youth offenders’ rights

The DOJ found that officers overused pepper spray, kept youths in prolonged isolation and failed to protect them from sexual abuse.

The Texas Tribune · Aug 1, 2024

Facing youth prison crisis, Texas lawmakers opt to build new facilities and funnel more kids to adult system

For more than a decade, Texas has been trying to slim down its youth prison system, which has been plagued by years of abuse scandals. This Legislature is reversing that course.

The Texas Tribune · Jun 2, 2023

“A way to throw kids away”: Texas’ troubled juvenile justice department is sending more children to adult prisons

Moving the most violent and troubled youths to adult prison makes it easier to help others in juvenile facilities, some prosecutors and lawmakers say. Youth justice advocates say Texas is giving up on the children who most need help.

The Texas Tribune · Apr 28, 2023

Texas imprisoned Joshua Keith Beasley Jr. when he was 11, purportedly for his own good. Five years later, he returned home in a casket.

“They didn’t try to fix the brokenness,” his mother says. “They just broke him more.”

The Texas Tribune · Apr 28, 2023

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

Seven Texas prison employees face dismissal over 16-year-old inmate’s suicide

Joshua Keith Beasley Jr. had been transferred from a Texas youth facility to an adult prison despite a long history of suicidal behavior. Five guards and two supervisors allegedly failed to check on him.

The Texas Tribune · Apr 25, 2023

Texas Senate votes to close employment loophole after Refuge foster care scandal

The upper chamber unanimously passed Senate Bill 182 after The Texas Tribune reported that a state-licensed foster care facility hired a caretaker whom the Texas Juvenile Justice Department previously fired for having inappropriate relationships with children.

The Texas Tribune · Apr 3, 2023

Lawmakers offer stark choices for ending the crisis in Texas’ youth prisons — shut them all down, or build more

Plagued by decades of scandals over sexual and physical abuse of children, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department is at a crossroads.

The Texas Tribune · Mar 9, 2023

Pay raises alone won’t solve staffing shortages in “nightmare” Texas youth prisons, ex-workers say

Danger and trauma — not low salaries — are what drive most workers to leave the crisis-wracked Texas Juvenile Justice Department.

The Texas Tribune · Nov 17, 2022

State agencies push for better worker pay as critical staffing crunch hits Texas government

Texas agencies say they are being hammered by a historic staffing crisis, particularly when it comes to those in the trenches serving the state’s most vulnerable populations.

The Texas Tribune · Sep 29, 2022

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

Gov. Greg Abbott largely remained silent as dangerous conditions caused by a lack of staff persisted at Texas juvenile facilities during the summer.

The Texas Tribune · Sep 12, 2022

Lawmakers decry collapsing Texas juvenile prison system, ask Abbott to call special session

Without a jolt of funding, the Texas Juvenile Justice Department will struggle to hire workers and regain control over the safety and treatment of almost 600 incarcerated youth, its acting director told lawmakers at a hearing.

The Texas Tribune · Aug 9, 2022

Get all your
news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One news app.

The Texas Tribune · Aug 3, 2022

A mother watches helplessly as her teenage boy deteriorates in a Texas youth prison

The state of Texas has essentially controlled her son’s life since he was 11. The Texas Juvenile Justice Department was supposed to keep him safe and help him get better. It has failed at every turn.

The Texas Tribune · Aug 2, 2022

Inspection reports reflect the desperation and danger youths face in Texas juvenile prisons

Visits to Texas’ severely understaffed youth prisons show suicide attempts without intervention, water bottles being used as makeshift toilets, and a rash of possibly gang-related fights.

The Texas Tribune · Aug 2, 2022

Almost 600 Texas youths are trapped in a juvenile prison system on the brink of collapse

The agency is so understaffed that teens have reported spending up to 23 hours locked in their cells, using water bottles to go to the bathroom. A staggering number have hurt themselves or been placed on suicide watch.

The Texas Tribune · Jul 7, 2022

Understaffed, and under federal investigation, Texas juvenile detention system halts intake

The Texas Juvenile Justice Department doesn’t have enough staff to keep minors safe or deal with increasing suicidal behavior, its interim head says. Gov. Greg Abbott recently shifted millions of dollars from the long-troubled agency to his controversial border security mission.

Get all your
news in one place.

100's of premium titles.
One news app.

Coverage From

People

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
read the most diverse news in one place.

Organisations

DOJ

4,382 stories

the Justice Department

Child Protective Services

Read news from The Economist, FT, and more,
with one subscription

Topics

Places

Fourteen days free

Download the app

One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.