In this episode of Everyday Injustice, we hear from Kwaneta Harris, currently incarcerated at the Lane Murray Unit in Gatesville, Texas — the largest women’s state prison in Texas. With nearly 40,000 women incarcerated across the state, Harris’s story sheds light on a justice system that often fails to see the humanity behind each case.
Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Harris shares her journey from a nursing career and life overseas to becoming a survivor of domestic abuse. After returning to the U.S., a violent relationship in Texas turned deadly. Harris describes killing her boyfriend in an act of self-defense, only to receive a 50-year sentence despite having no prior criminal record.
Her time inside Texas prisons has included eight and a half years in solitary confinement following what she calls an “escape attempt” — an effort to seek isolation rather than flee. It was during those years in solitary that Harris found her voice, turning to writing and journalism to tell her story and expose the broader injustices faced by incarcerated women.
Her experience is a powerful reminder that behind every sentence is a human story — one shaped by abuse, survival, and a system that too often silences the voices of those most affected.
