WebHeader_Grove.png
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Available On Air Stations
Join as a sustainer and support independent local news for your community.

Texas Inmates Protest 'Inhumane' Conditions

The Wynne Unit, a prison in Huntsville, Texas. (Chantal Valery AFP/Getty Images)
The Wynne Unit, a prison in Huntsville, Texas. (Chantal Valery AFP/Getty Images)

Inmates in seven Texas state prisons have gone on strike, protesting what they call inhumane living and working conditions. The action began last Monday, with dozens of inmates refusing to leave their cells. Within a day, a general lockdown was imposed, rendering the strike moot. That lockdown is still in effect.

Texas is home to more than 150,000 prisoners. Most of them are in state facilities, where almost all work for no pay. Here & Now’s Robin Young speaks with Erica Gammill, who heads a prisoner advocacy group, to discuss the strike and working conditions in Texas’s prison system.

Guest

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.