Fifth Circuit Reinstates Lawsuit Over Texas Jail Prisoner’s Death by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke The family of a Texas detainee who died of a suicidal overdose under jailers’ noses can continue its lawsuit against Young County, Texas. That decision was handed down on April 22, 2020, by the Fifth …
Fifth Circuit Upholds Dismissal of Texas Jail Suicide Lawsuit, Holds Discrimination Not Proven by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On April 15, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the summary dismissal of a lawsuit brought by the estate of a man who committed suicide at the …
Valentine et al. v. Collier, TX, hand sanitizer protection for geriatric prisoners during COVID, 2020 United States District Court Southern District of Texas ENTERED UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS HOUSTON DIVISION LADDY CURTIS VALENTINE, et al., Plaintiffs, VS. BRYAN COLLIER, et al., Defendants. September 29, 2020 David …
Fifth Circuit Upholds Dismissal of Prisoner's Lawsuit Over Guard's Failure to Protect Him From Another Prisoner's Attack by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On August 24, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld the Rule 12(b)(6), F.R.Civ.P. dismissal of a prisoner’s civil rights lawsuit alleging a …
Does Increased Guard Violence Mean Texas Prisoners Are at Greater Risk? by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke Violence perpetrated against prisoners by staff of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has risen dramatically over the past decade, according to the prison system’s own statistics. From 6,624 use-of-force incidents by …
How Long Can You Hide a Dead Body in a Prison Cell? by Keri Blakinger Mental-health problems, short staffing plague a Texas lockup in COVID lockdown. by Keri Blakinger, The Marshall Project, originally published July 13, 2020 Source Materials If things were a little too quiet in a particular cell …
News in Brief by California:In June 2020, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) commuted 21 state prisoners’ sentences, a dozen of them were for murder convictions, patch.com reported. Seven were committed when the prisoner was 22 or younger. Half of the prisoners are now 59 or older. One commutation went to …
Dallas County, Texas Jails Finally Enter the 21st Century on Phone Rates by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon Until February 18, 2020, it cost pre- and post-trial detainees in the Dallas County, Texas jails .24¢ per minute to speak to their families on the phone. Urged by criminal justice reform …
Hurdsman v. Williamson County, TX, Settlement, Retaliation-Filing of Grievance, 2020 RELEASE OF ALL CLAIMS AND INDEMNITY AGREEMENT RECITALS: WHEREAS, Plaintiff/Appellee Rodney Hurdsman ("Hurdsman") was incarcerated in the Williamson County Jail ("WCJ") from April 28, 2015-July 7, 2017, and Hurdsman claimed that Williamson County Texas (the "County"), its officials, and current …
How to Fail at Running a Prison During a Pandemic by Anthony Accurso A firsthand account from FCI Seagoville in Texas, one of the epicenters of the COVID-19 pandemic by Anthony W. Accurso [Editor’s note: As of July 22, the Bureau of Prisons website reported 1,220 prisoners had tested positive …
Prison Postcards: “I feel as though I was either in a car accident or beaten by a baseball bat.” by Ken Silverstein by Ken Silverstein We’re now nearly six months into the COVID-19 pandemic and geographically the coronavirus epicenter has shifted from its origins in the United States in New …
Texas Execs Sentenced for Providing Bad Food to BOP by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon Nearly every resident of a prison will quickly tell anyone who asks that what passes for food there leaves a lot to be desired. It is a good bet that the moniker “mystery meat” originated …
Texas Prison System Bans Greetings Cards, Postcards, Colored Paper in Mail by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On March 1, 2020, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) began enforcing sweeping new restrictions on the mail received in its 104 prisons. The new policy basically bans prisoners from receiving anything …
News in Brief by Arizona: A Maricopa County grand jury indicted Daniel Davitt, 60, on January 14, 2020 on charges of second-degree murder in the death of Lower Buckeye Jail guard Gene Lee on October 30. Buckeye Jail video shows Davitt talking to Lee on October 29, then suddenly grabbing …
Prison Postcards: A Plea from Kentucky and Dispatches from Texas and Massachusetts by Ken Silverstein by Ken Silverstein Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic erupted, prisoners, their families and advocates have braced for major outbreaks at America’s prisons and jails. It’s still not clear just how bad prisoners are going to …
U.S. Supreme Court Overturns Texas Federal Judge’s Order Granting COVID-19 Relief to Elderly Prisoners by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On May 14, 2020 the United States Supreme Court rejected a class-action lawsuit filed by two elderly Texas prisoners that would have forced the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) …
COVID-19 and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice by Edward Lyon by Ed Lyon I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”That’s a famous quote from Luke Skywalker, a character in 1977’s Star Wars, as his Millennium Falcon spacecraft emerges from faster-than-light speed only to find Alderaan, its destination planet, has …
Texas Attorney General Finds GEO Documents Are Public Information by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On May 1, 2020, the Texas Attorney General’s Office issued an opinion holding that all records related to a private prison contractor’s operations in the state were public information subject to the Texas Public Information …
Prison Postcards: Official Accounts Differ from Prisoner Accounts as the Pandemic Spreads by Ken Silverstein by Ken Silverstein Ever since the coronavirus epidemic exploded in the United States earlier this year, government officials have reassured the public that they had things tightly under control. On February 26, before anyone in …
Silence: The Bureau of Prisons’ Pathetic Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic by Christopher Zoukis by Christopher Zoukis The silence is deafening. Over a week in mid-May, Prison Legal News tried to contact public information officers at seven federal prisons seeking an answer to a straightforward question: What are you doing …
