2020 Showcase Silver Award: Locked in Limbo: Mental Illness & Inmate Backlogs

Every year, thousands of mentally ill men and women languish in Texas' county jails. Incapable of standing trial, they wait in line behind hundreds of other people — sometimes over a year — for a bed in a state hospital to get the help they need. As Texas' population booms, its leaders have recognized this problem is also growing, but their efforts to shrink the backlog have failed. In 2019, the number of people stuck on the state's wait list — with their cases stalled and constitutional rights possibly violated — reached historic levels. KXAN’s "Locked in Limbo" investigation highlighted the stories of the families caught up in this broken system and the state's struggle to find solutions.

KXAN-TV won the 2020 Showcase Silver award for their investigation, and Josh Hinkle and David Barer spoke with the Headliners Foundation’s Mark Morrison to discuss the outcomes of their reporting.