Behind the Walls

We hope you have found the series of Coronavirus Chronicle bonus episodes informative and entertaining. Follow the show on Apple Podcasts. Click subscribe — it's free — to receive fresh episodes daily.  The Rev. Hannah Atkins Romero, rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in Midtown, talks about the sense of loss experienced by Houston’s faith communities as an Easter Sunday without church services approaches. Plus: a special performance by April Sloan-Hubert and the Trinity Jazz Ensemble.

Today, we're sharing an episode of our new podcast "Coronavirus Chronicle" with Behind the Walls listeners. Previous episodes at available on Apple Podcasts. Houstonians know all about hurricanes: Wind speed, the dirty side, the European models. But what do we need to track the coronavirus? Angela Blanchard discusses that and more with the Houston Chronicle’s Lisa Gray.

As Houston Chronicle executive editor Steve Riley said recently in a letter to readers: Quite suddenly, your lives have changed. Your health, or the health of someone you love, could be at risk. Your job seems shakier than just days ago. Your church isn’t having services, your favorite bar has closed ... at the Houston Chronicle, we feel it, too. Host Ferrill Gibbs talks to Riley about coronavirus in Houston and about the unique challenge that covering it presents to local newsrooms.

Listen to the Houston Chronicle Editorial Board's impassioned plea to Houstonians coping with the coronavirus -- "Stay home!" -- as expressed by editorial board member Monica Rohr.

Waymond Hall spent ten years of his life on the run from the law. He’d grown up poor, with a father in prison - but seemed poised for a better life until he committed an armed robbery and became a fugitive. But on the DL he rebuilt his life, found a wife and kids. And, then, he turned himself in.

In her latest year-long investigation, Texas crime writing legend Pamela Colloff delved into the shadowy world of the con artist and jailhouse snitch whose testimony put four men on death row. In this episode, listen in as reporter and podcast host Keri Blakinger asks the Austin-based ProPublica writer about the problems with informants, the difficulties in reporting on them, and answers to a slew of Twitter-user questions about the process.

For the most part, prisons and jails are built for men. But as much as the carceral system fails them, experts say it might fail women even more. That's why some jails are shifting to a "gender-responsive" model, paying attention to women's needs and how they're different from men's. On this episode, host Keri Blakinger talks with Major Sally Peña and Captain Maria Velasquez at the Travis County Jail in Austin, where officials are trying to build a new, gender-responsive women's jail.

Patrick Murphy is a death row prisoner, one of the notorious Texas 7 - a group of men who escaped from a maximum security unit and ended up killing a cop. In this interview, he talks about his stay, his legal case, his regret and how he became a Buddhist behind bars - turns out, at first it was because he just wanted a yoga mat.

Before he became a big-time honky tonk musician, Texas Joe Bailey did state jail time. He sat down with his guitar and podcast cohosts Keri Blakinger and Lance Lowry to talk about how he ended up in prison, how he turned it around afterward - and what it means to be "prison famous."

Keri Blakinger talks with attorney and New York Times Magazine writer Emily Bazelon about progressive prosecutors, and what it means to be one. Can a district attorney who seeks death sentences still be considered progressive? Does progressive criminal justice mean that prosecutors' offices get smaller? 

Larry Ray Swearingen, a Texas death row prisoner, is scheduled for execution on Aug. 21, 2019. It's the sixth time the state has tried to put him to death in the two decades since he was convicted of killing Melissa Trotter. So far, he's always managed to eke out a last-minute stay. Reporter Keri Blakinger visited him for an interview about what that feels like, and why he's there in the first place.

Co-host Keri Blakinger chats with CNN reporters Blake Ellis and Melanie Hicken, who just finished investigating the troubled track record of a massive, privatized jail healthcare provider that's been sued for more than 70 inmate deaths.

Bill Savoie joins Keri Blakinger to talk about his life before he started practicing law. Once upon a time, the now-respected parole attorney did prison time - and on this episode of Behind the Walls, he talks for the first time about the journey from felon to lawyer.

With the Texas legislative session in the rearview mirror, cohosts Keri Blakinger and Lance Lowry sat down with Dallas Morning News reporter Lauren McGaughy to talk through the criminal justice wins and (mostly) losses this year. Some big bills - including those about prison A/C, decriminalizing pot, and closing kid prisons - failed to gain traction, and left advocates disappointed. But lawmakers finally killed the hated driver responsibility surcharge and legalized kitty key chains. 

One year after ten people - students and teachers - died in the Santa Fe school shooting, campus police officer John Barnes sat down with Keri Blakinger and fellow reporter St. John Barned-Smith to remember the deadly day, and how he survived.