Creating & Changing the Conversation:

Since May 1, 2018, MuckRack.com registered 65 articles on Mano Amiga's work, with a Total Journalist Reach of 548,268 -- here in a corner of Texas that hasn't seen a true organized Left since the early 70s Chicanx movement. PBS’s Independent Lens is doing a national news story on our criminal-justice efforts in Hays Co, due out November. A few samples of our narrative power: Five regional outlets reported on an overcriminalization stat we unearthed: the past 4 years, Hays Co has seen an 82% hike in incarceration despite only a 22% population increase! Also, after major Texas counties ended pot prosecution recently, we sparked coverage in 8 distinct publications about the fact that low-level marijuana possession remains the leading arrest charge in Hays Co since 2013 -- obligating our (Republican) District Attorney to justify himself in numerous news stories. And now he publicly backs the reforms we are pushing, from Cite & Divert, to L.E.A.D. -- though that’s posturing, not action, but the posture in itself represents a serious victory at this point given the historic conservatism of our county, and him in particular

Birthing the New & Reviving the Dead

Sustained pressure from Mano Amiga forced the Hays Co Criminal Justice Coordinating Commission (HCCJCC) to resuscitate itself from a long demise, a body comprised of numerous chiefs of police, the sheriff & elected officials; HCCJCC now meets monthly, as do new Cite & Divert and Pretrial Services subcommittees. 

Similarly, we succeeded in urging San Marcos City Council to form a Criminal Justice Committee to examine enactment of Cite & Divert provisions, among other reforms, with action expected by November. Several committee members now attend HCCJCC meetings to support Mano Amiga's aims. The next biggest city in Hays Co -- Kyle -- has 3 of their 7 Councilmembers ready to support our push for Cite & Release there, which we'll pursue in Spring 2020, following victory in San Marcos.

First Non-Urban Padilla Hub in Texas & Public Defender’s Office 

While we failed to persuade our Hays County Commissioners Court to pursue a Public Defender's Office in 2019, a poll taken by San Marcos Daily Record found 70% of respondents believed they should have; now, commissioners are enacting much of our Public Defender's Office proposal piecemeal, in order to take credit, given pending elections & the degree to which we've popularized the issue locally.For example, in August the Texas Indigent Defense Commission approved an application for Hays Co to operate as a hub for Padilla Advisals for non-citizen defendants for Texas’s 3rd Administrative Judicial Region, covering 25 counties -- in large part due to Mano Amiga’s public-pressure campaign & our introduction of Anita Gupta, staff attorney from Immigrant Legal Resource Center, to county officials, who wrapped in Julie Wimmer, a Padilla attorney, to shepard commissioners through the process.  Our work with directly-impacted individuals to highlight problems in the jail also played a strong role in the county’s recent hiring of an Indigent Defense Coordinator & a Pretrial Services staffer. But we’re not backing down; Public Defender Office in 2020!