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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. …

 

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More from this issue:

  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. Oklahoma Prisoner’s Execution Was Expedited 
by the Trump Administration
  10. $2.6 Million Paid for Detoxing Washington Jail Detainee Allowed 
to Leap to His Death, Additional NaphCare Payout Undisclosed, by Chuck Sharman
  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 
Merits of Michigan Prisoner’s Claim, by Chuck Sharman
  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. Ninth Circuit Revives Prisoner’s Claim Based on Guard’s 
Thwarting of Administrative Remedies, by David Reutter
  29. $815,000 Settlement in Nevada Class-Action Suit 
Over Debit Release Cards
  30. Review: “Reforming the Shadow Carceral State”
  31. Fourth Circuit Revives Wrongful Conviction Claim of Exonerated Maryland Prisoner, State Pays Him $3.1 Million, by Chuck Sharman
  32. HRDC Wins $480,000 in Legal Fees from Centurion for Denied New Mexico Records, by Chuck Sharman
  33. DOJ Tables Controversial Kentucky Prison 
to Claw Back $500 Million Budget
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Pegged at Nearly $350 Billion a Year, by Chuck Sharman
  35. $3,800 Paid to Ohio Prisoner for Denied Records Request, by Chuck Sharman
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Assaulted During Midnight Raid, by Anthony Accurso
  37. DOJ Finds Unconstitutional Conditions in Texas Juvenile Detention, by Chuck Sharman
  38. HRDC Collaborates on Prison Telecom Cost Report 
to Washington Lawmakers, by Chuck Sharman
  39. Suit Filed Over Fatal Beating of New York Prisoner 
That Sparked Massive Guard Strike, by Chuck Sharman
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  42. Former California Prison Guard 
Pleads Guilty to Planting Contraband 
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Wrongfully Convicted Former Ohio Prisoner, by Chuck Sharman
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for Intellectually Disabled Jail Detainee Raped by Sheriff, by David Reutter
  45. SCOTUS Clamps Down on Bivens Extension to Prisoner 
Beaten by BOP Guards at Virginia Lockup, by Chuck Sharman
  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 
Death from Untreated Alcohol Withdrawal; 
Claims Against Wellpath Pending Bankruptcy, by Chuck Sharman
  48. $95,000 Paid to Nevada Prisoner Denied 
Muslim Prayer; Pending Cases Allege Continued 
Discrimination Against Non-Protestants, by Chuck Sharman
  49. Life-Sentenced California Prisoner Cannot be Convicted Under Both §§ 4500 and 4501
  50. On Remand, Eleventh Circuit Clarifies, Affirms Grant 
of Habeas Relief to Death Row Prisoner
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for Non-Medical Reasons, by David Reutter
  52. California Attorney Disbarred for Deceiving 
Prisoners Seeking Resentencing, by Chuck Sharman
  53. HRDC Wins Consent Decree, $350,000 in Jail Censorship Suit 
against California’s Sonoma County, by Chuck Sharman
  54. DOJ Inspects BOP Food Service Operations, 
Finds Troubling Issues at Multiple Facilities, by Anthony Accurso
  55. Tennessee Legislature Passes Bill to Penalize Private Prisons 
for High Mortality Rates
  56. Ninth Circuit: Continuing-Violations Doctrine Applies 
for PLRA Administrative Exhaustion Purposes, by David Reutter
  57. Nebraska Supreme Court Clarifies Award of Time Served 
Credit for Non-Citizen Awaiting Extradition, by Matthew Clarke
  58. Third Circuit Upholds Award of $265,000 to Prisoner 
Who Was Sexually Assaulted Twice by the Same Guard, by Douglas Ankney
  59. Shady Firm Awarded $78 Million Contract for Services 
at Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz”
  60. Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” Gave Massive Handouts to ICE and Private Prison Industry
  61. Guaranteed Basic Income Programs for Prisoners 
Reduce Food Insecurity and Homelessness, by Anthony Accurso
  62. Sixth Circuit Order Sealing Records 
in Private Prison Shareholder Suit 
Vacated, Remanded
  63. Former Oregon Prison Guard Sergeant Sentenced 
for Sexually Abusing Imprisoned Women, by Matthew Clarke
  64. News in Brief

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