Suicidal Texas Prisoners Held in Phone-Booth-Size “Containment Cages” by In an essay published by Slate on October 20, 2024, Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prisoner Jeremy Busby admitted that even after 20 years behind bars, what he found when released from a 23-month solitary confinement in 2022 left him …
MTC Shuts Down Texas Jail by On September 30, 2024, Utah-based Management & Training Corp. (MTC) ended its contract to operate the Giles W. Dalby Correctional Facility in Garza County, Texas. The lockup is owned by the county, which confirmed that most of some 170 employees were out of work. …
Fifth Circuit Revives Texas Prisoner’s Suit Alleging Interference With His Muslim Religious Practice by David Reutter by David M. Reutter On April 11, 2024, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit found error in a lower court’s judgment for Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) officials in a …
SCOTUS Stays Texas Execution With 20 Minutes to Spare by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke After granting a rare stay of execution minutes before a condemned Texas prisoner’s date with death, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) agreed on October 4, 2024, to hear his challenge to a …
Houston Detainees Shipped to Private Jails in Mississippi and Louisiana by Anthony Accurso by Anthony W. Accurso With the Harris County Jail (HCJ) short 139 guards, minimum staffing ratios set by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS) have mathematically capped the number of beds that can be filled at …
News in Brief by Arizona: State prisoner Brigido Montoya made the briefest of escapes from the State Prison Complex in Eyman on August 10, 2024, before he was recaptured 48 minutes later by Florence Police, the Florence Reminder & Blade-Tribune reported. The state Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry (DCRR) …
Texas Holds 1 in 41 Prisoners in Solitary Confinement by As of March 2024, Texas state prisoner Ricky Smith, 56, had spent over 30 years in solitary confinement. Though the state Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) calls it “security detention,” he is one of 3,141 state prisoners held alone in …
News in Brief by Alabama: Mobile Metro Jail guard Robert Aaron Small was fired and arrested for assault on June 27, 2024, one day after he allegedly used excessive force against an unnamed detainee. WKRG in Mobile said that the guard had worked at the lockup since 2019. Mobile County …
Turn Key Health Clinics: Another Private Jail Medical Provider Leaving a Trail of Death and Misery by David Reutter by David M. Reutter Jails face a monumental task in the provision of medical care. Those who’ve just been arrested are often experiencing withdrawal from drugs or alcohol. Other pre-existing medical …
Texas Appeals Court Tosses Former Prisoner’s Illegal Voting Conviction by On March 28, 2024, Texas’ Second District Court of Appeals (COA2D) overturned Crystal Mason’s illegal voting conviction, ruling that the state failed to present any evidence of criminal intent by the Black grandmother from Fort Worth to vote illegally in …
Fifth Circuit Calls Denial of Texas Prisoner’s In Forma Pauperis Request “Arbitrary or Erroneous” by When Texas prisoner Larry Donnell Gibbs filed suit in federal court in 2021 against officials with the state Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), he paid the filing fee and did not ask to proceed in …
TDCJ Denied Summary Judgment In Suit by Prisoner Who Missed Grievance Deadline Because Guard’s Assault Left Him In a Coma by It’s hard to tell who is slimier, a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) guard who allegedly beat a prisoner into a coma or prison officials who then attempted …
Multiple Abuse Allegations Against Texas Prison Guard Deemed “Unsubstantiated” by TDCJ by After Texas prisoner Wendy Morales accused Lane Murray Unit guard Nathaniel Aviles of groping her during an August 2023 cross-­sex strip-­search—itself a policy violation—the state Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) ruled her complaint “unsubstantiated.” It was not the …
Hometown Prison Examines Its Texas Neighbors by Incarcerated readers of PLN will not soon get a chance to see Hometown Prison, a new documentary film released on February 27, 2024, which explores the relationship between some 80,000 people who make their home in Huntsville, Texas and the seven prisons there …
Texas Prisoner’s Lawsuit Seeks Relief from Heat in Un-Air-Conditioned Prisons by David Reutter by David M. Reutter A suit filed by a Texas prisoner alleging that stifling heat in his cell threatens his life was allowed to proceed against Defendant officials with the state Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) on …
HRDC v. Grayson County, TX, Complaint, Censorship, 2024 Case 4:24-cv-00828 Document 1 Filed 09/12/24 Page 1 of 27 PageID #: 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS SHERMAN DIVISION HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENSE CENTER, Plaintiff, v. COMPLAINT JURY DEMANDED GRAYSON COUNTY, TEXAS; and TOM WATT, …
HRDC v. Grayson County, TX, Complaint, Censorship, 2024 Case 4:24-cv-00828 Document 1 Filed 09/12/24 Page 1 of 27 PageID #: 1 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS SHERMAN DIVISION HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENSE CENTER, Plaintiff, v. COMPLAINT JURY DEMANDED GRAYSON COUNTY, TEXAS; and TOM WATT, …
Texas Prosecutor Gets Fine, Probated Bar Suspension After Jailing Woman for Abortion by On January 25, 2024, the Texas Bar Association issued a probated suspension to Starr County District Attorney Gocha A. Ramirez, after finding he “sought to pursue criminal homicide charges against an individual for acts clearly not criminal” …
News in Brief by Alabama: On June 24, 2024, Walker County Sheriff Nick Smith told the Birmingham News that county jail guard Tony Dewayne Jackson, 29, had been arrested for smuggling “non-­drug” contraband into the lockup. Jackson was no longer working at the jail, but Smith didn’t say how or …
Pilot Jail Diversion Program Opens for Mentally Ill Arrestees in Austin by A pilot program to divert mentally ill suspects from Texas’ Travis County Jail (TCJ) in Austin opened in March 2024. Inspired by the success of similar efforts in Miami and Nashville, county Judge Andy Brown corralled a coalition …
