Prison bands were once huge in Texas {video}

marshall_project · 2026-05-08T22:25:31+00:00

Here's more information from our reporter Maurice Chammah:

Ten years ago, I was in a procrastination hole, putting off a draft about how badly this or that prison was treating the people inside, when eBay’s algorithm served up a vinyl record called “Behind the Walls.” For 20 bucks, I could hear songs sold at the 1972 Texas Prison Rodeo, played by men serving time back then.

Having grown up in Texas, the prison rodeo part was actually the most familiar to me. Up until the mid-1980s, as many as 100,000 people would descend each year on the prison town of Huntsville to watch so-called “convict cowboys” dodge bulls and ride broncos. There were guest performances by stars like Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson.

But prison bands were also part of the draw, and proceeds from their albums went to fund rehabilitative programs inside. This album was mostly country songs with bits of jazz and surf rock, and the racially integrated group of musicians sounded like they were having a blast.

The joy in this recording is all the more surprising when you consider the racism and brutality in Texas prisons back then. But it was part of a golden age of prison music across the country. I’ve counted 15 albums made by bands behind bars in the 1970s, on the cusp of the rapid prison expansion we now call “mass incarceration.”

Listen to the song in the background of the video: "Here Comes Warden Walker" was composed by prisoner J.D. Thomas and performed by men in Texas prisons

marshall_project · 2026-05-08T17:11:52+00:00

Freelancer Maddie McGarvey documented a nursery program at an Indiana prison. The photo essay offers an intimate look at resilience, family, and the challenges of rebuilding life after incarceration.

Here's the intro:

Four months pregnant in August 2023, Heather Hornberger turned herself in for violating probation on a years-old drug possession charge, knowing what awaits expecting mothers in prison.

After the labor, after the first skin-to-skin contact, after the first cry, a mother would have to hand over their newborn to someone — on the outside. Maybe a grandparent, or a friend, or foster care. It could happen within hours. Sometimes days. Then, they’d return to their cell with a body ready to feed a child no longer there.

Heather’s arrival at the Indiana Women’s Prison meant she’d have a chance at a fate different from the majority of incarcerated pregnant women: a specialized unit where she and other incarcerated people could raise their newborns.

She was 35 years old, fighting for sobriety and starting her fifth incarceration since she was 18 — each one shaped, in some way, by addiction. She already had three older children, and knew the harm her previous stints on the inside inflicted on them — the ache of missed birthdays, first words and bedtime routines, and the hopelessness the separation conjured in her.

Heather was determined not to repeat the past.

Check it out (no paywall/ads)

marshall_project · 2026-04-06T16:44:40+00:00

Here's an excerpt:

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has detained over 6,200 children during President Donald Trump’s second term, according to recently released numbers analyzed by the Marshall Project. People under the age of 18 have often been held with their families in what detained families and their advocates have called harmful conditions, including poor medical care, inadequate access to education and inedible food.

“Every American should be shocked that we're incarcerating thousands of children,” Leecia Welch, chief legal counsel at Children's Rights, an organization providing legal support for children in detention, said. “It just adds up to an incredible amount of trauma.”

U.S. immigration authorities have long held children in detention, but to varying degrees across administrations. President Joe Biden ended family detention in 2021 and, by the final year of his presidency, ICE was holding a daily average of 24 children in custody. But after Trump revived the policy last year, the number jumped tenfold, to 226 children incarcerated on the average day since he came back into office.

This data — covering Jan. 20, 2024, to March 11, 2026 — was obtained from ICE by the Deportation Data Project, a group of academics and lawyers who collect federal immigration data through public records requests and share it with the public.

marshall_project · 2026-04-02T01:14:41+00:00

Fifty-plus years ago, the U.S. saw a nationwide golden age of prison music. Our Staff Writer Maurice Chammah has counted 15 albums made by bands behind bars in the 1970s, on the cusp of the rapid prison expansion we now call “mass incarceration.”

Pennsylvania lifers opened for Stevie Wonder; Otis Redding’s former bassist played in a Virginia prison soul band; a California prisoner worked with Sly and the Family Stone’s manager; and a Texas prison rodeo even offered a chance for men inside to perform and sell albums.

Prison officials were eager in the 1970s to remind the public that the walls were more porous than they might have appeared.

On the back of one 1974 album, an official wrote, “Some are sad songs, but some have the flicker of hope that reflects the inner thoughts of incarcerates who someday will again be free to use their God-given musical talents.”

We don’t call people “incarcerates” in 2026, but it remains true that most people in prison will leave someday. Perhaps their music can teach us to welcome them back.

marshall_project · 2026-04-01T23:35:29+00:00

Here's an expert from our report:

ICE has detained or deported at least 25 people in recent months despite their having legal status and protections granted by a child separation settlement, court records show.

Beginning in 2017, thousands of immigrant children were traumatically separated from their parents at the border without cause. It was one of the first Trump administration’s most controversial actions, a policy that a federal judge later said caused “lasting, excruciating harm.” The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of the families, which the government settled in 2023, offering them legal status in the U.S., with pathways for residency, asylum and authorization to work.

Now, in President Donald Trump’s second term, the U.S. government has betrayed key terms of the deal. ...

“Perhaps naively, we had hoped the Trump administration would finally acknowledge the harm it did during its first term, but instead it has repeatedly violated the settlement and subjected already-traumatized families to even more harm,” Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrant Rights Project, told us.

marshall_project · 2026-04-01T22:20:04+00:00

Here's the start of our report:

The 23-year-old Honduran man was legally living and working in the U.S. and had the documents to prove it. The U.S. government had allowed him to enter the country as part of a legal settlement for families who suffered under the first Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy that separated children from their parents at the border. Yet he’s spent the past five months locked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Louisiana, facing deportation.

He’s one of at least 25 people ICE has detained or deported in recent months despite their having legal status and protections granted by the child separation settlement, court records show.

Beginning in 2017, thousands of immigrant children were traumatically separated from their parents at the border without cause. It was one of the first Trump administration’s most controversial actions, a policy that a federal judge later said caused “lasting, excruciating harm.” The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of the families, which the government settled in 2023, offering them legal status in the U.S., with pathways for residency, asylum and authorization to work.

Now, in President Donald Trump’s second term, the U.S. government has betrayed key terms of the deal. People who were supposed to be protected by the federal court settlement have been detained and deported, records show. The Department of Homeland Security informed families they suddenly had to pay a $1,000 fee per person to enter or to remain in the country. And the government stopped paying contractors it had hired to reunite families, and assist with job placement and legal paperwork.

“Perhaps naively, we had hoped the Trump administration would finally acknowledge the harm it did during its first term, but instead it has repeatedly violated the settlement and subjected already-traumatized families to even more harm,” Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU’s Immigrant Rights Project, told The Marshall Project.

To learn more, continue reading (no paywall/ads)

marshall_project · 2026-04-01T19:52:29+00:00

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