Gov. Elect Gina Hinojosa: Stop Texas Jail Deaths & Corruption

Criminals Behind The Badge congratulates Gov. Elect Gina Hinojosa — but congratulations do not clean a cell, preserve a video, answer a family's phone call, or investigate a badge. Our position: any governor who ran on justice should relish the job — reveal every record, open every file, and stand behind every investigation. Texas has heard promises before. What families need now is action that can be measured in records released, investigations opened, and abuses stopped.

If Texas leaders want public trust, they have to earn it where trust has been broken most: in jails, courts, detention units, complaint systems, and the institutions that decide who is believed and which stories get buried — no exceptions, no carve-outs.

Jail deaths are a Texas emergency:

Texas jail deaths are a Texas emergency. People held in Texas jails have died after medical crises, mental-health breakdowns, neglect allegations, violent incidents, and failures that too often remain hidden behind procedure. Every death in custody should trigger an urgent, independent accounting — not a slow walk toward forgetting.

We are not claiming that every death involves a crime. We are saying that every death in government custody demands proof: who saw the warning signs, what care was provided, what force was used, what records exist, and who reviewed them.

The record matters — preserved video, medical files, dispatch logs, court records, contracts, and grievance histories can show what happened. A closed door is not an explanation for a dead person. No office, uniform, or title should function as a shield when credible evidence demands scrutiny.

“Every death in custody should trigger an urgent, independent accounting.”

Alleged criminal actions in the justice system must be investigated:

Reports of abuse, retaliation, falsified narratives, evidence problems, coercion, and official misconduct have damaged confidence in parts of the justice system. These are allegations unless and until evidence proves them in the proper forum — but allegations tied to credible records should be investigated with the same seriousness applied to ordinary citizens.

The standard Texas should set:

Texas should make custody deaths rare, investigations independent, records public where the law allows, and retaliation against complainants unacceptable. That is the minimum standard for a state that claims to respect life and liberty.

LeRoy Nellis would also like to meet with Gov. Elect Gina Hinojosa to talk directly about the targeting of Texans and U.S. citizens as a whole. That conversation, in his view, must happen in the open, focus on evidence, and be guided by accountability and the experiences of people ignored, dismissed or harmed by institutions that misuse power.

What the Record Shows:

This page is a public letter to a public servant — exactly what the record carried the day it was written. Every death in custody documented on this site, every report filed, every grievance ignored, sits inside the same argument Austin now inherits. The question is whether the new governor answers with records and investigations, or with another press release that says the problem is complicated and the timeline is long. The people inside Texas jails cannot afford one more promise with no follow-through; neither can the families of the dead.