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Tribune app explores Texas prison units

The Texas Tribune has created an:application to explore Texas' numerous prison units, and learn more about the 160,000 inmates housed inside them. Search for inmates by name or explore this app by crime types and specific prison units. You can also view all Death Row inmates.From my own experience with TDCJ data, I'm a little skeptical of the data on inmates by crime types, which becomes murky because inmates may be convicted of multiple offenses.Making matters worse, when I've gotten that information from TDCJ in the past it was poorly coded, often with different codes for the same offenses, and virtually impossible to decipher. For example, the Tribune data lists "Cocaine-possession" as a separate offense category, but it's not actually a separate crime under the law and there's probably overlap with those listed as being convicted of other drug crimes like possseing less than a gram or one to four grams of a controlled substance...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on April 29, 2010 (boomark / email).