Texas Supreme Court: Error to Dismiss Appeal for Untimely Indigence Affidavit by On November 2, 2007, the Supreme Court of Texas held that a court of appeals may not dismiss an appeal because the appellant failed to file an affidavit of indigence “with or before” the notice of appeal. Linda …
Official Capacity Not the Same as Governmental Agency in Texas Civil Suit by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On June 24, 2010, a Texas Court of Appeals held that suing employees of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) in both their official and individual capacities was not the same …
Texas Chaplain Who Complained of Jail Conditions Reinstated, Suit Settled by In January 2011, Gail Hanson was reinstated as a volunteer chaplain at the Cameron County Jail in Brownsville, Texas. She had been banned from the facility after she publicly criticized conditions at the jail, and her reinstatement was part …
$4.5 Million Settlement in Texas County Jail Strip Search Suit by On January 12, 2011, a Texas federal court approved a $4.5 million settlement in a civil rights lawsuit involving suspicionless strip searches of people booked into the Bexar County Detention Center (BCDC) in San Antonio, Texas for minor offenses. …
Rape By Houston Jail Guard Nets $300,000 Jury Award by Rape by Houston Jail Guard: $300,000 Jury Award Linda Lu, a former prisoner at the Harris County Jail in Houston, Texas, filed suit in the 125th District Court of Harris County alleging that Harris County Deputy Marcus S. Fleck twice …
U.S. Supreme Court: No Monetary Damages Against States Under RLUIPA by On April 20, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that state sovereign immunity bars recovery of monetary damages under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), 42 U.S.C. § 2000cc, et seq. Harvey Leroy Sossamon III, a …
Fifth Circuit Vacates Dismissal of Habeas Challenge to Texas Parole Changes by On February 2, 2011, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a district court’s judgment dismissing a prisoner’s challenge to retroactive changes in Texas parole procedures. Matthew Clarke, a Texas state prisoner and PLN contributing writer, filed a …
Supreme Court Allows § 1983 Challenge to Texas Post-Conviction DNA Testing Law by Supreme Court Allows § 1983 Challenge to Texas Post-Conviction DNA Testing Law On March 7, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a Texas prisoner could challenge the due process he received under Texas’ post-conviction DNA testing …
Fifth Circuit Upholds $355,000 Award Against Dallas County in Jail MRSA Case by On January 13, 2011, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a judgment in a lawsuit filed by a former prisoner who contracted Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) while incarcerated at the Dallas County Jail, resulting in the …
Federal Court Dismisses PLN’s Texas Prison Censorship Suit; Appeal Pending by On January 4, 2011, a Texas federal district court dismissed PLN’s challenge to censorship of books by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). PLN had filed a civil rights suit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against TDCJ Executive …
Texas Prison Phones and Emails Generate Less Revenue Than Expected by When the Texas legislature passed SB 1580 in 2007, requiring the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to install phones in state prisons, Texas was the only state that did not allow prisoners to make regular phone calls. Even …
Texas Prisoner Not Entitled to Counsel until Adversarial Proceedings Are Commenced by Walter Rothgery, a Texas state prisoner, was arrested as a felon in possession of a firearm based on a background check which showed a felony conviction in California. He was taken before a magistrate the next morning, who …
Texas DOC & Nurse not Liable for Prisoner's Death by Texas DOC & Nurse not Liable for Prisoner's Death Damon Hollimon, a Texas state prisoner, was repeatedly tear-gassed at Huntsville prison after refusing to come out of his cell. When he was removed from his cell, a nurse noted that …
O'Neil, as next friend to the minor C.P,. v. Texas Dept. of Criminal Justice, et al., TX, settlement info, wrongful death, 2011 Case 2:10-cv-00003-J-BB Document 245 Filed 08/01/11 Page 1 of 3 PageID 2193 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS AMARILLO DIVISION GAIL O’NEIL, …
Texas Prisoner's Premises Defect Suit Against Dallas County Reinstated by Matthew Clarke by Matthew T. Clarke A Texas court of appeals has reinstated the pro se, in forma pauperis negligence and premises defect tort suit brought by a Texas prisoner against Dallas County and the Sheriff of Dallas County after …
Texas Prisoner’s Property Destruction Damages Properly Pleaded by Matthew Clarke By Matt Clarke A Texas court of appeals has held that a state prisoner properly pleaded damages within the minimum jurisdictional limits of the district court. Jeffery D. Westbrook, a Texas state prisoner incarcerated at the Allred Unit, filed suit …
Texas Court of Appeals: No Law Library Access Right for Prisoner Who Waives Appointed Counsel by Matthew Clarke Texas Court of Appeals: No Law Library Access Right for Prisoner Who Waives Appointed Counsel By Matt Clarke On April 30, 2008, a Texas court of appeals ruled that a prisoner who …
Texas Prisoner Entitled to Separate Mandatory Supervision Calculation by By Matt Clarke On July 2, 2008, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that a Texas prisoner who was originally had a mandatory-supervision-eligible sentence, but received two more consecutive sentences while incarcerated, had the right to have his sentences calculated …
Fifth Circuit: Texas Muslim Prisoners May Have Right to Wear Beards by On November 21, 2007, the Fifth Circuit court of appeals ruled that Texas state prisoners who are Muslims may have the right to wear a beard. Fredrick Gooden and Garrett Gibb, Texas state prisoners, filed suit under 42 …
Fifth Circuit: No Liberty Interest in Discretionary BOP Sentence Reduction by Matthew Clarke By Matt Clarke The Fifth Circuit court of appeals upheld the denial of sentence reduction to a federal prisoner who had completed the Residential Drug Abuse treatment Program (RDATP). Michael Richardson, a federal prisoner incarcerated at the …
