BOP Settles Discrimination Claim by "Non-Asian" for $12,000 by Christopher Zoukis The Bureau of Prisons settled a discrimination complaint brought by Wendy Lynn Brown, a white female employee at Federal Correctional Institution Big Spring, Texas in July 2010. Brown's Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) complaint was filed on July 6, …
Securus Settles Lawsuit Alleging Improper Recording of Privileged Prisoner Calls by by Jordan Smith, The Intercept Attorneys and advocates for people incarcerated in local jails in Austin, Texas have settled a federal lawsuit against telecommunications company Securus Technologies, with an agreement ostensibly designed to ensure that privileged legal communications between defense …
Jail Prisoner’s Death Results in $1 Million Judgment against Texas County by Matthew Clarke On October 22, 2015, a federal jury awarded $1 million to the survivors and estate of a prisoner who died in a Texas jail, finding jail employees were deliberately indifferent to his medical needs. Terry Lynn …
Screening Inmate Cases in Texas - A Brief Overview of Federal and State Inmate Litigation, Justice for Texans, undated T. Michael Kennedy, P.C. 1431 Greenway Drive Suite 800 Irving, TX 75038 972-281-5888 www.justicefortexans.com email: tmichael@justicefortexans.com Screening Inmate Cases in Texas: A Brief Overview of Federal and State Inmate Litigation in …
El Paso County Settles Ex-Prisoner's Disabilities Suit for $6,650 by Matthew Clarke On June 26, 2012, representatives of the County of El Paso, Texas signed a settlement in a suit brought by a deaf former jail prisoner over the lack of accommodations for disabled prisoners at the El Paso County …
Texas Correctional Industries Gives Prisoners Work Skills by With factories employing 5,200 prisoners at 37 Texas prisons, Texas Correctional Industries (TCI) is a large operation. It is also a diversified operation with furniture factories, computer repair facilities, soap and detergent factories, metal fabrication facilities, boot and shoe manufacturing plants, sign …
Private Prisons Are a Risky Business for Local Governments by Matthew Clarke Local governments in Texas and across the nation are bearing high costs for building private prisons that are now unwanted due to a sharp decline in incarceration rates. This has led some local governments to adopt radical strategies …
Texas Criminal Court Fees Are a Secret Tax on the Poor by The Texas Legislature has erected such a mishmash of criminal court fees that even the- court administrators and clerks don't know how to apply them. These fees, which are frequently not used for their intended purposes amount to …
Texas Court of Appeals Affirms Termination of Prisoner's Parental Rights by On January 21, 2016, a Texas court of appeals affirmed the termination of a prisoner's parental rights to his two minor children. At the time of the termination jury trial in the district court, the father was incarcerated on …
Texas Supreme Court Rules Inmate Trust Accounts Are Civil in Nature by On June 5, 2009 U.S. Justice Willett reversed in part a petition from the Court of Appeals for the Seventh District of Texas of a due-process claim for funds withdrawn from inmate trust accounts. In 2006, Texas prisoner …
Fifth Circuit Upholds Settlement Agreement in Discrimination Suit by Robert Quesada filed a Title VII discrimination against his employer Janet Napolitano, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. The District Court required both parties to complete alternative dispute resolution. At the end of the mediation, Quesada's attorney made a $5000 …
Texas Federal Jury Awards $2.25 Million in Private Prison Medical Neglect Case by On October 24, 2012, a Texas federal jury awarded $2.25 million to the survivors of a federal prisoner who died while in the custody of a private prison due to prison officials' failure to provide him with …
Texas Judge and District Attorney Allegedly Bribed to Let Killer Escape by Matthew Clarke In a case that is beyond the pale of the usual high level of corruption in south Texas, a state district judge, the District Attorney of Cameron County and an attorney who was formerly a state …
Travis County (Texas) Jail Initiates Video Visitation for a Fee by Matthew Clarke Travis County intends to be one of the first places in Texas that allows video visitation for jail prisoners. Under an agreement with Securus Technologies, Inc. approved by the county commissioners on October 30, 2012, the county …
Suspension Over for Texas Judge Who Beat Daughter on Viral Video by Matthew Clarke In November 2011, the Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct (TCJC) temporarily suspended Aransas County judge William Adams after a 2006 video of him viciously beating his then-16-year-old daughter, Hillary Adams, went viral. The Supreme Court of …
Unusually High Rate of Prisoners Suicides at San Antonio, Texas Jail by Matthew Clarke In 2009, all five of the Bexar County Adult Detention Center's (the jail) prisoner deaths were suicides by hanging and a sixth Bexar County prisoner being held in the Crystal City jail due to overcrowding at …
Texas Need Not Prove Ability to Pay Probation Fees Before Revocation by Matthew Clarke In a November 14, 2012 opinion, The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that the prosecution is not required to prove that a probationer was able to pay fees before he was revoked for nonpayment. The …
Texas Ramps Up Medical Paroles by Matthew Clarke Recently, Texas has increased the use of medically-recommended parole. The parole board approved over twice as many medical releases in Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 than it did in FY 2009. Even so, the 85 Texas prisoners approved to be released for medical …
Texas Contracts with Huntsville Hospital for Prisoner Health Care by On February 10, 2012, the Texas Board of Criminal Justice approved a $46.8 million contract with Huntsville Memorial Hospital to provide health care for the 13,900 state prisoners in the Huntsville, Texas area. This may be the first step toward …
Correctional Managed Health Care at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, TX SAO, 2011 John Keel, CPA State Auditor An Audit Report on Correctional Managed Health Care at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston February 2011 Report No. 11-017 An Audit Report on Correctional Managed Health …
