Texas Abolishes Last Meals for Death Row Prisoners, Reduces Weekend Meals by Matthew Clarke Texas served its final last meal to condemned prisoner Lawrence Russell Brewer, who, on September 21, 2011, was executed for the infamous racially-motivated 1998 dragging death of James Byrd, Jr. Brewer requested an extensive last meal …
UTMB Challenges Texas State Audit, while Legislature Imposes $100 Prisoner Health Care Co-Pay by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) has challenged the findings of a state audit of the prisoner health care services it provides. The challenged audit reported that UTMB …
Texas Compensates Exonerees Unequally by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke A succession of laws, cumulating in the most generous compensation package for wrongly convicted prisoners in the nation, has left Texas exonerees stuck at different levels of compensation depending on when they were proven innocent. Consequently, some earlier exonerees now …
Texas Court Orders TDCJ to Provide Hearing Impaired Telecommunications by On April 5, 2011, a Texas state court issued a temporary injunction ordering the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to provide telecommunications to hearing impaired prisoners using the Texas Relay Service (TRS). Leslie Arrington, Janet Lock, Kathy Williams and …
Texas: Helping HIV+ Prisoners Receive Post-Release Meds by by Matt Clarke When Diana Harris was released from a Texas prison more than a decade ago, she received no information on how to continue her regimen of HIV medication. The prison issued her a 10-day supply of meds and when that …
Texas Legislator Uses Prisoner-Made Goods as Gifts for Campaign Contributors by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke When Republican Texas State Representative Debbie Riddle scheduled her “Riddle Executive Leadership Summit” at the Lanier Theological Library in August 2011, the agenda mentioned several “esteemed discussion leaders,” a buffet reception and special gifts …
Texas Teenager Killed at Private Juvenile Detention Center by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On October 10, 2011, 14-year-old Jordan Adams was found unconscious on the floor of his isolation cell at the Granbury Regional Juvenile Justice Center (GRJJC) in Granbury, Texas. A sheet was wrapped around his neck. He …
Texas Gang Member Lockdown Without Hearing Upheld by The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld summary Judgment to prison officials on a Texas prisoner's involuntary administrative segregation claims. In March 2002, Texas prison officials learned that rival Hispanic gangs the Texas Syndicate (TS) and Raza Unida (RU), were planning a …
Texas Prison System Increases Prisoners’ Monthly Phone Minutes by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke In 2007, when Texas became the last state in the nation to let prisoners make phone calls on a regular basis, the limit on phone usage was 120 minutes a month. [See: PLN, Nov. 2007, p.11]. …
Texas Parole Board Removes Onerous Sex Offender Conditions from 176 Parolees by In November 2011, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles removed the sex offender designations from 176 parolees who were subject to stringent parole restrictions known as Condition “X,” but had never been convicted of a sex offense. …
Dallas County Passes Jail Inspections ... Finally by It took eight tries over seven years, but the nation’s seventh-largest jail system, located in Dallas County, Texas, has finally started passing inspections by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards (TCJS), most recently in March 2012. Adam Munoz, executive director of the …
Fifth Circuit Issues Landmark Ruling on Texas Prison System Correspondence Rules by Texas state prisoner Guadalupe Guajardo filed a federal civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 challenging the restrictions on prisoners correspondence in Texas prisons. After partial settlement, the court ruled that, because only declaratory judgment was …
Fifth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Case Involving Texas Jail Prisoner’s Suicide by The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals reluctantly affirmed a lower court's dismissal of a Texas jail suicide case. In April 2004, 23-year old Jamie Whitt was arrested on three misdemeanor charges and lodged in the Stephens County Jail. …
Houston, Texas Must Disclose Fatal Police Shooting Records by A Texas federal court granted Plaintiffs' motion to compel discovery filed by the estate of a man who was fatally shot by police. It also denied Defendants' motion for a protective order. Roland Carnaby was shot and killed by two members …
Doe v. Neveleff, TX, 2nd Amended Complaint, ICE Detainee Sexual Abuse, 2011 Case 1:11-cv-00907-LY Document 122 Filed 05/05/12 Page 1 of 88 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS AUSTIN DIVISION SARAH DOE; KIMBERLY DOE; RAQUEL DOE; ANNA ROE; BETH ROE; CONSTANCE ROE; EMILY ROE; AND GEORGINA …
Kinney County, 2nd Amended Agreement (GEO, CEC), 2012 SECOND AMENDED AND RESTATED FACILITY OPERATION AND MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT This Second Amended and Restated Facility Operation and Management Agreement (hereinafter "Agreement") is entered into by and between KINNEY COUNTY, TEXAS (hereinafter "County") and COMMUNITY EDUCATION CENTERS, INC., (hereinafter called "Operator") to become …
The Trials of Eroy Brown: The Murder Case that Shook the Texas Prison System, by Michael Berryhill (University of Texas Press, 2011). 244 pages, $29.95 by Mel Motel Book review by Mel Motel The Trials of Eroy Brown: The Murder Case that Shook the Texas Prison System opens with a …
Texas Prison Guard Gets Five Years for Scalding Child by Alex Friedmann On February 29, 2012, former Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison guard Henry Benson III, 31, was convicted by a state court jury of “recklessly” burning a child he was babysitting. Benson, formerly employed at the Connally Unit …
Texas Harasses, Denies Compensation to Wrongly Convicted by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke Texas has a generous compensation package for prisoners who are exonerated, which includes $80,000 per year of wrongful incarceration, an annuity with annual payments in the same amount, free college tuition and free medical care. [See: PLN, …
Texas Prisoner Health Care Underfunded by On average, Texas spends less on prisoner health care than other states – about half the amount that California spends. However, medical care for California prisoners was found to be unconstitutionally inadequate, leading a federal court to order reductions in the state’s prison population …
