Jail Project of Texas
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
What it says it does
The mission of Jail Project of Texas is to liberate communities by organizing with and advocating for people incarcerated in Texas county jails, and their loved ones.
- Income
- $224,991
- Spending
- $446,720
- Spent on programs
- 77%
- Reserves
- 1.6 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- donations and private grants, 80%
- Employees
- 5
- Volunteers
- 7
- Highest pay
- $103,255, executive dir.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Weak: 30 out of 100. Higher than 7% of charities in its peer group (crime and legal services, under $250k).
Reserves
10 of 35Spendable reserves would cover 1.6 months of spending.
Debt
5 of 20It owes 57% of what it owns.
Living within its means
0 of 15Spending exceeded income by 99% of income.
Income trend
0 of 15Income fell 48% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1576% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 6 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Good: 76 out of 100. Higher than 62% of charities in its peer group (crime and legal services, under $250k).
Independent board
25 of 257 of 7 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
0 of 8Reports no written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
0 of 7Reports no written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Pay set independently
0 of 5Reports no independent review process for its chief executive's pay.
No reported misuse
10 of 10Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (1)
- $341,579 spent. 1.ADVOCACY, ORGANIZING & MOVEMENT BUILDING (A). Anti-jail expansion Campaign In Harris county, we founded a diverse coalition comprising six organizations, family members of people who died pretrial in custody, formerly incarcerated people, youth and community advocates united in their vision of shrinking the carceral footprint along with increased investments in social services as a means to shrink the carceral footprint. The coalition has 193 members on its listserve, conducted 28 meetings including work parties, two community teach-ins and mobilized over 90 registrations for public comment at Commissioners Court. (B). Casework advocacy (i) Our HelpLine received 470 calls, 1,539 emails and 193 letters from over 35 counties. We responded to over 60% of all calls and emails with 30% of the cases needing multiple responses and interventions. (ii) We filed complaints with the state regulatory agency TX Commission on Jail Standards or supported loved ones in filing complaints to state agencies and law enforcement in over 30 per cent of the cases. (iii) Of the emails and phone calls we received, we handled 414 complaints related to medical issues, 674 complaints related to medications and medical neglect, 440 for people with serious mental illness, 14 for people with intellectual and developmental disability, 27 for people who were pregnant, 23 veterans and approximately 200 related to use of force and injuries. (C). Organizing (i) We multiplied our statewide community base by 3 times and transformed the tone of the quarterly public meetings of the Texas Commission on Jail Standards through intentional organizing, movement building, media outreach and mutual aid. Over four quarterly meetings, we brought over 120 comments in total from community members from 25 different counties but were unable to publish all the videos for lack of resources. We created and published 27 videos of powerful testimonies https://www.youtube.com/@texasjailproject/playlists The energy from these meetings sparked self-led movements in Bexar county, Tarrant county, Harris county and Sabine county. We also mobilized members of the press, legislative staff and both criminal justice advocates and mental health advocates to attend and speak at these meetings. (ii) In January, Tarrant County Commissioner Simmons invited us to participate virtually in a town hall organized in Arlington attended by over a 100 community members, to discuss the alarming rise of custody deaths in Tarrant county jail. Under Sheriff Waybourn, at least 65 community members have reportedly died in the jail since 2017. We joined the Sheriff, allies and advocates from United Fort Worth and Broadway Baptist Justice Network, and criminal court representatives to interrogate the culture and policies that have led to so many deaths. Due to our collective efforts, the Department of Justice is considering an intervention in the jail. (iii) As part of our effort to decriminalize mental illness, we brought 6 public comments from directly impacted families to the board meetings of the Local Mental Health Authorities in 2 counties that are mandated by the state to provide mental health services to the community (D). Litigation & civil rights support (i) Our advocacy, research and technical assistance was essential and instrumental in winning a total of $2.71 million in legal settlements for families of three community members who suffered serious harm in pretrial detention (Chasity Congious https://www.keranews.org/government/2024-05-21/tarrant-county-approves-largest-lawsuit-settlement-to-chasity-congious-whose-baby-died-in-jail and Kelly Masten https://www.keranews.org/criminal-justice/2024-12-02/with-a-775-000-settlement-pending-the-bill-for-tarrant-county-jail-lawsuits-keeps-rising from Tarrant county & Glenn Hayes - one of our bailouts from Smith county. (https://www.texasjailproject.org/2024/08/of-loss-collective-struggle-mid-year-24-newsletter/) Litigation is ongoing in two other cases of over detention which we brought to our allies at TX Fair Defense Project. (ii) We documented Mykala Savage's story and the experience of other pregnant women in Harris County jail in our essays published in The Slate and The Appeal magazines in 2022. After her release, we supported her with mutual aid and legal resources. In February of 2024, after almost two years of struggling to unearth all the details of her horrific time inside Harris county jail, we collaborated with Rights Behind Bars to file a lawsuit against Harris county jail. (iii) We provided referrals in 10 other injury and death cases to national civil rights attorneys and provided technical support to both the attorneys and the families through the intake process. 2. NARRATIVE SHIFT/MEDIA/STORYTELLING (A). In 2024 we were successful in getting 203 stories published on custody deaths, 125 on jail expansion/overcrowding, 24 on cash bail and 60 on mental illness and IDD. TJP and/ our community members were featured or quoted in 43 of these stories. (B). We were featured on a three part series on NPR Here & Now on Harris county bail reform due to the launch of Texas Freedom Stories which was our collaborative effort with national partner Zealous to highlight the success of misdemeanor bail reform in Harris county. (C). National exposure after being quoted in Jessica Pishko's new book about Sheriffs 'The Highest Law in the Land.' (D). Our community stories were featured and our work quoted in at least 28 national, statewide and county level stories including TX Observer, KFF Health News, Boltsmag, NPR, Marshall Project, etc. All the 2024 stories are compiled on this page of our website: https://www.texasjailproject.org/2024/12/texas-jail-project-through-news-stories-in-2024/ (E). We were prominently featured in a new documentary short "Criminal" with Alec Karakatsanis of Civil Rights Corps, that was screened at the Philadelphia Blackstar Film Festival and NYC film festival. (F). "We need mental health care,
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2024.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since May 2012.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated October 13, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 21, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.