Valentine v. Collier, TX, Prelim Injunction Order, COVID-19 Release, 2020 Case 4:20-cv-01115 Document 40 Filed on 04/16/20 in TXSD Page 1 of 5 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 …
Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Texas Prisoner’s Complaint Over Consequences of Prisoner Unrest as Frivolous by On February 20, 2020, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court’s dismissal of a prisoner’s pro se, in forma pauperis federal civil rights complaint primarily over the consequences flowing from a physical …
Fifth Circuit Upholds Qualified Immunity for Guard Pepper-Spraying Prisoner Without Provocation by On February 11, 2020, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a prison guard who pepper-sprayed a prisoner “for no reason” was entitled to qualified immunity. Prince McCoy, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prisoner, filed …
Continuing Problems at Texas Jail Roil County’s Relationship with GEO Group by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke As previously reported in PLN, Florida-based GEO Group has had a litany of problems at the jail it operates for Liberty County, Texas. During a rocky 57-day stretch in mid-2019, there were prisoner …
Arizona Prison Water Woes Ease Up by Jayson Hawkins by Jayson Hawkins The water at Douglas Prison, which has over 2,000 of Arizona’s prisoners, had a “noticeable petroleum odor and taste” and “was burning [prisoners’] skin after showers and causing diarrhea” in June 2019, Jimmy Jenkins of KJZZ-FM reported. The …
What’s It Like Inside? Early Snapshots from Prisons During the Coronavirus Pandemic by Ken Silverstein by Ken Silverstein As we are putting together the April issue of PLN, the situation with the novel coronavirus is changing by the hour, if not the minute. In the United States, the number of …
Valentine v. Collier, TX, Class Action Complaint, COVID-19 Release, 2020 Case 4:20-cv-01115 Document 1 Filed on 03/30/20 in TXSD Page 1 of 37 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS HOUSTON DIVISION LADDY CURTIS VALENTINE and RICHARD ELVIN KING, individually and on behalf of those …
Executive Order GA-13, TX, Bonds, 2020 GOVERNOR GREG ABBOTT March 29, 2020 FLED IN ThE OFFE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE S 3° PM:YCLOCK The Honorable Ruth R. Hughs Secretary of State State Capitol Room 1E.8 Austin, Texas 78701 Secretary of State Dear Secretary Hughs: Pursuant to his powers as …
HRDC's Letter Brief re GEO TX - 3-23-20 Thomas S. Leatherbury tleatherbury@velaw.com Tel +1.214.220.7792 Fax +1.214.999.7792 March 23, 2020 Via Certified Mail The Honorable Ken Paxton Attorney General, State of Texas 209 West 14th Street Austin, Texas 78701 Attn: Open Records Division Re: Brief in Response to Request for Open …
Death Highlights Need for Change in Texas GEO-Run Prison by Kevin Bliss by Kevin Bliss Eagle Pass Correctional Facility (EPCF) have been investigated by the Maverick County, Texas Sheriff’s Office, the Idaho Department of Corrections (IDOC), Corizon Correctional Healthcare, and the GEO Group after 56-year-old Kim Sargent Taylor died in …
$2.5 Million Settlement Over Prisoner’s Restraint Death in Houston, Texas Jail by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke The family of a man who died at a jail in Harris County, Texas while being subjected to a dangerous form of restraint settled for $2.5 million in a lawsuit they brought against …
Inside the US Marshals’ Secretive, Deadly Detention Empire by Seth Freed Wessler They’re supposed to safeguard pretrial detainees. But America’s oldest law enforcement agency is suffering from a massive dereliction of duty. by Seth Freed Wessler, Mother Jones A large rectangle of red dirt on the flat expanse of West …
Federal Class-Action Lawsuit Seeks Hepatitis C Treatment for Texas Prisoners by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke A Texas prisoner has filed a federalclass-action lawsuit seeking the current standard of care for treatment of hepatitis C. Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prisoner Matthew Roppolo, 53, has the hepatitis C virus, …
Terminal Texas Prisoner’s Morphine Withdrawn After He Filed Sexual Harassment Complaint by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke A Texas prisoner with a rare and virtually untreatable form of leukemia filed a sexual harassment complaint against a medical provider. Then the morphine he was being given for the pain caused by …
To Decrease Prison Population, Texas Must Increase Parole Rate by Gritsforbreakfast, a Texas criminal justice blog known for its fearless reporting, recently analyzed Texas parole and prison population statistics between 2006 and 2018. It noted that the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles (Board) has adjusted parole rates to keep …
Texas Attorney General Secretly Sabotages Compensation Payments to Man Exonerated of Killing Police Officer by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke Alfred Dewayne Brown spent over a dozen years in prison, including nine on death row, before suppressed exculpatory evidence emerged that supported his alibi and proved he did not murder …
Carillo v. Buendia, TX, Complaint, Wrongful Death, 2020 Case 2:20-cv-00028 Document 1 Filed on 01/28/20 in TXSD Page 1 of 32 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS CORPUS CHRISTI DIVISION ARMANDO CARRILLO, Individually and as Representative of the Estate of DANIEL EMILIO CARRILLO, deceased, …
Texas Convict-Leasing Burial Ground Uncovered by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke The first prison ever closed in Texas was the Central Unit in Sugar Land, which had originally been a leased convict labor camp known as the Imperial Sugar Company State Prison Farm. When the facility was established in 1867, …
Texas Jail Administrator Fired for Tampering with Government Documents by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke The Hill County Sheriff’s Office in Texas fired the head of the county jail on June 19, 2019. Jail Captain Sherry “Diann” Hammer, 68, had been on administrative leave since March while Texas Ranger Jake …
Cole et al. v. Collier, et al., TX, memorandum and order, failure to report high prison temperatures per settlement, 2019 Case 4:14-cv-01698 Document 1504 Filed on 12/11/19 in TXSD Page 1 of 8 United States District Court Southern District of Texas ENTERED UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS …
