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Texas Lawmakers Restrict Bail and Raise Criminal Penalties, 
Punt on Prison and Jail Conditions

Loaded on Aug. 1, 2025 by Chuck Sharman published in Prison Legal News August, 2025, page 26
Filed under: Bail, Failure to Make Findings or Articulate Reasons, Competence of Defendant. Location: Texas.

When the Texas legislature adjourned its annual session on June 2, 2025, lawmakers had taken some steps to restrict bail and successfully fought back an effort to expand parole. Most other jail and prison reforms—including a bill to air-condition the state’s miserably hot lockups—were left on the table, too. Meanwhile, ...

 

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  1. Now Under Federal Receivership, 
New York City’s Rikers Island Jails Still Have 
No Plan to Improve, No Firm Date to Close, by Chuck Sharman
  2. From the Editor, by Paul Wright
  3. Watchdog Calls Out D.C. for Dragging Feet 
on Construction of New Jail, by Chuck Sharman
  4. $75,000 for Transgender Maryland Prisoner Raped by Guard, by Chuck Sharman
  5. Texas Social Workers Challenge Blanket Denial of State Occupational License Based on Youthful Assault Convictions, by Matthew Clarke
  6. CDCR Held in Contempt, Fined $112 Million 
in Longstanding Litigation Over Mental Health Care
  7. Two Exonerated Illinois Prisoners Win Settlements 
Totaling $14.5 Million, by Chuck Sharman
  8. California Prisoners Sue Gynecologist for Sexual Abuse, by Casey Bastian
  9. $2.6 Million Paid for Detoxing Washington Jail Detainee Allowed 
to Leap to His Death, Additional NaphCare Payout Undisclosed, by Chuck Sharman
  10. Oklahoma Prisoner’s Execution Was Expedited 
by the Trump Administration
  11. Multiple Prisoner Suits Accuse Guards of Violence 
at Virginia BOP Lockup, by Chuck Sharman
  12. Sixth Circuit Holds Dismissal Not Automatic When Plaintiff Simultaneously Files Same Claims in State Court, by Anthony Accurso
  13. Alabama DOC Attorneys Reprimanded for 
Filing AI-Written Briefs in Prisoner’s Suit, by Chuck Sharman
  14. Nebraska Considers Curbing Double-Bunking 
in Restrictive Housing
  15. FCC Backtracks on 2024 Order to Cut 
Prison Phone and Video Rates by Half
  16. $1.2 Million for New York Prisoner Waterboarded by Guards, by Chuck Sharman
  17. Former Maine Prison Guard Arrested 
and Detained by ICE Agents
  18. $15 Million Settlement Reached in San Diego Jail Detainee’s Untreated Withdrawal Death, by Chuck Sharman
  19. $6.75 Million Settlement Reached in Suit Accusing 
Massachusetts Guards of Retaliatory Assaults on Prisoners, by Chuck Sharman
  20. Missouri Prison Nurse Sentenced 
to 12 Years for Poisoning Husband
  21. Fifth Circuit Greenlights Federal Takeover of Mississippi Jail, by David Reutter
  22. $325,000 Paid to Former Wisconsin Prisoner Whose Cancer Biopsy Was Delayed by Previously Disciplined Doctor, by Chuck Sharman
  23. SCOTUS Partially Overturns Pavey, Holds PLRA Exhaustion 
Dispute Must Go to Jury Even If Intertwined with 
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  24. Texas Lawmakers Restrict Bail and Raise Criminal Penalties, 
Punt on Prison and Jail Conditions, by Chuck Sharman
  25. PLN Publisher Wins Settlement Records from Centurion 
in Florida Prisoner’s Wrongful Death, by Chuck Sharman
  26. Prison Gerrymandering 
Alive and Well in Oklahoma, by Chuck Sharman
  27. After Judge’s Letter, at Least 22 Former FCI Dublin Prisoners Granted Compassionate Release, by Matthew Clarke
  28. $815,000 Settlement in Nevada Class-Action Suit 
Over Debit Release Cards
  29. Ninth Circuit Revives Prisoner’s Claim Based on Guard’s 
Thwarting of Administrative Remedies, by David Reutter
  30. Review: “Reforming the Shadow Carceral State”
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  35. $3,800 Paid to Ohio Prisoner for Denied Records Request, by Chuck Sharman
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  46. Ninth Circuit Agrees That Former Guantanamo Detainee 
Lacks Grounds to Sue for Waterboarding, by David Reutter
  47. $1.875 Million Partial Settlement for Colorado Detainee’s 
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  57. Nebraska Supreme Court Clarifies Award of Time Served 
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  62. Sixth Circuit Order Sealing Records 
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  64. News in Brief

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