Jeremy Busby, a wrongfully convicted journalist incarcerated in the State of Texas, has faced near constant retaliation at the hands of TDCJ officials(wardens, sergeants, etc.) for his journalism exposing numerous failures within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

Listen to Jeremy describe recent events himself.

Contact the DOJ & Texas Rangers

TO:     US Department of Justice (Click here to send email) & Texas Rangers(Click here to send email)

SUBJECT: URGENT: Investigate TDCJ’s Abuses Against Incarcerated Journalist Jeremy Busby

MESSAGE:

Hello,

My name is [name] and I'm a [journalist/activist/concerned citizen] writing in regards to Jeremy Busby (#00881193), a journalist who is incarcerated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

For months, Mr. Busby has faced near constant retaliation at the hands of TDCJ officials (wardens, sergeants, etc.) for his journalism. He has also faced violence from other incarcerated folks, a series of transfers, has been thrown in and out of solitary confinement and his contact to the outside world was shut off for weeks. There is a public petition that details what he has gone through and has more than 300 signatures.

Throughout all of this, Mr. Busby has been denied proper medical treatment for his severely injured shoulder. After months of being denied medical evaluation, he finally met with doctors at UTMB Galveston and they operated on his shoulder in July. However, his surgeon requested that Mr. Busby be placed on a unit with 24-hour medical so he can receive his prescribed post-operative medication and physical therapy. The surgeon also put a "no handcuff pass" on his chart to ensure his shoulder can recover fully. TDCJ officials have explicitly refused to adhere to any of these accommodations.

Additionally, TDCJ has succeeded in censoring Mr. Busby by pinning a sexual assault disciplinary case on him. As a result, his tablet was shut off for WEEKS-- effectively cutting off his communications to the outside world. They have also made it especially difficult for him to communicate via snail mail – members of the JoinJeremy team, as well as, attorneys and journalists supporting this effort have received empty envelopes from him. This is of particular concern given how difficult TDCJ has made it for lawyers, spiritual advisors, and members of the media to schedule calls or visits with him.

We are requesting that the Department of Justice and the Texas Rangers thoroughly investigate all of the abuses Mr. Busby has endured since May: TDCJ’s refusal to bring Mr. Busby for medical evaluation, their non-compliance with medical orders prescribed by Mr. Busby’s surgeon, their constant efforts to censor Mr. Busby and shut off his communications to the outside world. We have spent months reaching out to various individuals in leadership within TDCJ to ask for their assistance in correcting these issues and to transfer Jeremy into protective custody and have been met with hostility and silence. Jeremy’s life is quite literally on the line.

We appreciate your attention on this matter. We hope that you consider helping us rectify this issue and holding the Texas Department of Criminal Justice accountable for their uncalled-for abuses.

Kind regards,

[name]

First and foremost, Jeremy sees himself as a human rights activist concerned with the wellbeing of those incarcerated alongside him. Jeremy has reported on countless issues he has witnessed while incarcerated. To name a few, these include suicides, laced drugs, murder, denial of basic necessities, and abuse at the hands of prison guards. He is also vocal about his opposition to the death penalty, solitary confinement, and other injustices that run rampant throughout the criminal legal system.

As a result of Jeremy's relentless reporting, TDCJ has engaged in several retaliation efforts against Jeremy, and has worked to censor the writing Jeremy produces. Despite the fact that Jeremy is incarcerated, his freedom of the press protections enshrined in the First Amendment still apply. Just in the last few weeks, Jeremy has endured multiple unprovoked attacks by both prison officials and prisoners high on drugs, he has been transferred several times to other prisons, his visits have been canceled, he has been denied medical care for multiple serious injuries sustained during the attacks, his property was stolen and destroyed by prison officials, he was left baking in the sun in a cage for hours, he was denied basic necessities(hygiene supplies, mattress, etc), and there were periods of time his communications to the outside world were completely cut off. His life is on the line right now and we have reason to believe that TDCJ is intentionally putting him in situations that threaten his safety to quiet him up.

Wardens at multiple facilities, other administrative staff, various directors and even the Executive Director, Bryan Collier, has been complicit in the abuses and censorship Jeremy has recently faced. For the last several years as soon as reporters get wind of the retaliation Jeremy faces as a result of his journalism and come asking to meet with him, Jeremy is mysteriously shipped off to a prison on the other side of the state to prevent those meetings from happening. Recently, they have been changing Jeremy's status to "in transit" to prevent reporters, lawyers, and his spiritual advisor visiting with him.

After weeks of petitioning and contacting TDCJ officials to remedy this situation(restore Jeremy's tablet access, provide medical care, and put him into protective custody) to no avail, we are taking things up a notch. encouraging the US Department of Justice and the Texas Rangers to investigate these abuses.

We are demanding the US Department of Justice and the Texas Rangers investigate the months' long abuses against Jeremy Busby at the hands of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.

UPDATE 10/9/24: After weeks without hearing from Jeremy, we finally heard from him yesterday. He was transferred and placed in isolation for several weeks without his property after coming into contact with an individual who tested positive for tuberculosis. Jeremy never tested positive and is now back in an solitary cell.

UPDATE 9/26/24: Jeremy has been moved. He was briefly at the Byrd Unit but is now at the Hughes Unit in Gatesville. We have not heard from him in a few weeks which is very concerning because we know that Jeremy is creative with finding a way to communicate with the outside world. We will update when we know more.

UPDATE 9/6/24: Jeremy is still without access to his tablet which makes his communication to the outside world almost inexistent. It has been more than 1 month since Jeremy underwent surgery to repair his shoulder and TDCJ has refused to follow through with any of the recommendations made by Jeremy's surgeon. He is in tremendous pain as he has not received any of the prescribed post-operative care, nor is he even receiving his pain medication.

UPDATE 8/7/24: Jeremy was transferred back to the Ferguson Unit just a couple of days after his surgery. The Ferguson Unit does not have 24-hour medical and their staff has made it clear they have no intention to follow recommendations made by the surgeon. Additionally, TDCJ has tacked on a bogus disciplinary case against him and as a result turned off his tablet for 60-90 days.

UPDATE 7/31/24: Jeremy had surgery on 7/29 to repair his shoulder. This comes after months of TDCJ denying Jeremy medical attention on his shoulder which endured several additional injuries(at the hands of TDCJ officers and other inmates) following the original injury. He received excellent medical care from Dr. Jeremy Somerson MD, the orthopedic surgeon that operated on him. However, he is back on the Byrd Unit and despite them having 24-hour medical, it has been a challenge for him to get his pain medication which is scheduled for every 6 hours. This evening we spoke to someone at the Byrd Unit because Jeremy had been attempting to get his pain medication for several hours, at this point he had his last dose at least 10 hours earlier, and they tried to tell us that he would have to wait until the morning. This is absolutely unacceptable treatment for a man who just had a significant surgery-- screws and metal plates were drilled into his bone and tendons from a cadaver were used to replace his damaged tendons.

UPDATE 7/26/24: After weeks of TDCJ officials denying Jeremy medical treatment for his severely injured shoulder, Jeremy finally met with doctors at UTMB Galveston a few days ago. They determined surgery to repair his shoulder was necessary. He is at the Byrd Unit awaiting to be transferred to the hospital in Galveston to undergo surgery in the coming days. Doctors at UTMB Galveston also added accommodations to his medical file that TDCJ needs to adhere to; Jeremy must be transferred to a unit with 24-hour medical that has the resources to foster complete rehabilitation of his shoulder, he is to receive physical therapy beginning shortly after surgery, and he is not to be handcuffed for 1 year. Medical staff at Ferguson, where he was housed just before being transferred to the Byrd unit has explicitly said they do not intend to follow the stipulations outlined by UTMB Galveston doctors. We must not let Jeremy be transferred back to Ferguson.