Houston Justice System Disfavors Poor by Houston Justice System Disfavors Poor Blacks awaiting trial in Harris County Texas have always had a tougher time receiving fair treatment than other ethnic groups. They still do. Gerald R. Wheeler reviewed more than 6,500 felony and misdemeanor pretrial detainee cases in Harris County, …
Mistakes and Misinformation Force Temporary Closure of Texas "Prisoner" Website by Mistakes and Misinformation Force Temporary Closure of Texas "Prisoner" Website An excessive amount of mistakes and misinformation on a Texas prisoner information website caused its creators to remove it from the Internet. The Texas Tribune embraces its mission of …
Violence in Texas Prisons Tied to Mental Illness by Violence in Texas Prisons Tied to Mental Illness Conclusions of a longitudinal study found that the most violent Texas prisons also house the highest percentage of mentally ill prisoners. The study conducted by the Texas Tribune from 2006 to 2012 collected …
News in Brief by News in Brief California: On April 21, 2015, San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi announced that 30 body cameras would soon be deployed by jailers working within Jail No. 4. He said he hopes that the new equipment will emphasize transparency and accountability in his department, which …
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Holds Forcible Medication for Death Row Prisoner Unauthorized by Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Holds Forcible Medication for Death Row Prisoner Unauthorized On September 11, 2013, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that a trial court lacked authority under the competency-to-be-executed statute, Texas Code …
San Antonio Police Kill Probation Department/Jail Security Guard by Matthew Clarke San Antonio Police Kill Probation Department/Jail Security Guard by Matt Clarke Jimmy James Garza, Jr. was 31 years old and had worked at the Bexar County Community Supervision and Corrections Department in San Antonio, Texas as a security monitor …
Joint letter to TX officials about private immigration family detention facilities October 13, 2015 The Hon. Greg Abbott Governor Office of the Governor P.O. Box 12428 Austin, Texas 78711-2428 The Hon. John J. Specia, Jr. Commissioner Texas Department of Family and Protective Services 701 West 51st Street Austin, Texas 78751 …
Texas Judge Sentenced For Concealing Evidence of Innocence by Matthew Clarke Texas Judge Sentenced For Concealing Evidence of Innocence by Matt Clarke In a week-long legal proceeding held in April 2013, special prosecutor Rusty Hardin presented evidence against then-sitting Williamson County District Judge Ken Anderson that as a prosecutor Anderson …
Jury Trial Ends As Texas Prisoner Settled His Lawsuit against Prison Officials by Jury Trial Ends As Texas Prisoner Settled His Lawsuit against Prison Officials A prisoner at the Telford Unit (TU) of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has settled his federal suit against two prison officials, for …
Supreme Court Vacates $3.4 Million Child Porn Restitution by Mark Wilson Supreme Court Vacates $3.4 Million Child Porn Restitution By Mark Wilson On April 23, 2014, the United States Supreme Court vacated a child pornography victim’s $3.4 million restitution award, finding that the Government failed to prove that defendant’s conduct …
TDCJ’s $100 Annual Fee for Prisoner Health Care Held Constitutional by David Reutter TDCJ’s $100 Annual Fee for Prisoner Health Care Held Constitutional by David M. Reutter The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has found constitutional a Texas statute requiring prisoners to pay a $100 annual health care services fee …
Texas Prison Guard Union Urges Death Row Reforms by Christopher Zoukis Texas Prison Guard Union Urges Death Row Reforms by Christopher Zoukis In a move that surprised many in the prison reform community, the president of the local chapter of a Texas prison guards’ union wrote a letter to the …
Texas Leads the Nation in Both Executions and Exonerations by Matthew Clarke Texas Leads the Nation in Both Executions and Exonerations by Matt Clarke Texas has long been notorious for applying the death penalty, executing more prisoners than any other state. Between 1976 and September 1, 2015, Texas carried out …
More Jurisdictions Don’t Renew Corizon Contracts – Including Big Loss in New York City by Greg Dober More Jurisdictions Don’t Renew Corizon Contracts – Including Big Loss in New York City by Greg Dober Recent news for for-profit prison and jail healthcare provider Corizon with respect to contract renewals has …
News In Brief by Alabama: On April 9, 2013, Kenneth Wayne Patton was arrested on a domestic violence charge. When he arrived at the Etowah County Jail, he informed guards that he used to be employed at the St. Clair Correctional Facility and should be put in protective custody. Despite …
Reed v. Avalon Correctional Services, TX, Complaint, FLSA Wages, 2015 Case 1:15-cv-00789-RP Document 1 Filed 09/09/15 Page 1 of 14 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS AUSTIN DIVISION TOYA Y. REED, Plaintiff, v. AVALON CORRECTIONAL SERVICES, INC., AVALON STAFFING, L.L.C., AVALON TX CORRECTIONS, L.L.C. …
Is Texas Poisoning Prisoners with Contaminated Water? by Panagioti Tsolkas Is Texas Poisoning Prisoners with Contaminated Water? by Panagioti Tsolkas When the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) named a prison unit after the late warden Wallace Pack they should have guessed it would have a problem with water, as …
Texas County Pays Prisoner’s Family $214,500 for Wrongful Death by Texas County Pays Prisoner’s Family $214,500 for Wrongful Death For two days in August 2011, Shawn Appell beat his head against a wall in his cell at the Llano County, Texas jail as guards Scottie Bryan Scoggins and Donny Stewart …
Jails in Trouble as IRS Investigates Tax-Exempt Bonds by Matthew Clarke Jails in Trouble as IRS Investigates Tax-Exempt Bonds by Matt Clarke Jails financed with tax-exempt revenue bonds, including numerous facilities in Texas, are scrambling to sell or refinance their debt following investigations by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) into …
