TDCJ Guards Denied Qualified Immunity in Failure to Protect Case by On April 14, 2004, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) agreed to pay $84,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by Texas prisoner Eugene Cantu. The original complaint was filed July 3, 2000 pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 …
Texas Jail Strip Search Policy Unconstitutional by Brandon Sample O n May 19, 2009, U.S. District Court Judge Walter S. Smith, Jr. denied a motion to dismiss filed by McLennan County, Texas in a suit challenging the constitutionality of the county jail’s policy of strip searching all pre-trial detainees. The …
Justice Reinvestment Initiative Eliminates Texas Prison Overcrowding by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke Despite a massive prison-building program in the 1990s, in 2007 the Texas legislature had to deal with an overcrowded prison system. Some lawmakers proposed including $523 million in the biennial budget for prison construction. Surprisingly, the legislature …
Texas Grand Jury Rules Jail Guards Not Negligent in Prisoner’s Death by Gary Hunter Despite a finding of homicide by the Dallas County Medical Examiner, an Angelina County grand jury ruled that jail guards involved in physically subduing a prisoner were not negligent in causing his death. In November 2008, …
Texas Supreme Court: Prisoner May Appeal Despite Incomplete Indigence Affidavit by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On May 16, 2008, the Supreme Court of Texas held that an indigent prisoner whose indigence was uncontested may proceed with an appeal despite deficiencies in his affidavit of indigence. Lawrence Higgins, a Texas …
Significant Injury Showing Not Required to Defeat Qualified Immunity in Excessive Force Case by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected a claim for qualified immunity by a Texas prison guard who used excessive force against a prisoner. Texas state prisoner Marcus Brown alleged that in 1998 …
Texas Supreme Court: Mailbox Rule Applies to Notice of Appeal by On June 29, 2007, the Supreme Court of Texas held that the “mailbox rule” for incarcerated litigants applies to a civil notice of appeal. Armando Ramos, a Texas state prisoner, filed a medical malpractice suit in state court. The …
Fifth Circuit: PLRA Exhaustion Requirement an Affirmative Defense by On July 5, 2007, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that failure to meet the PLRA’s exhaustion requirement is an affirmative defense and prisoners are not required to plead exhaustion in their complaints, nor can a district court of its …
Compensation for Wrongful Texas Conviction Not Barred by Prior Suit, Not Assignable by On June 8, 2007, the Texas Supreme Court held that compensation for wrongful imprisonment under Chapter 103, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code (CP&RC), was not barred by a previous lawsuit and settlement. However, such compensation was …
Texas Prisoners Still Dying in Houston Jails, Among Other Problems by Gary Hunter Clarence Freeman’s hot check turned out to be his death warrant after it resulted in his arrest and incarceration at the Harris County Jail in Houston, Texas, where he was fatally assaulted by a guard. On New …
Fifth Circuit: Special Parole Review Request Doesn’t Toll AEDPA Limitations by The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that improperly-filed state habeas corpus applications and requests to the parole board for special review do not toll the one-year AEDPA limitations period established by 28 U.S.C. § 2244(d). Barry Michael Wion, …
Texas Parole Board’s Hearing on Imposition of Sex Offender Conditions Inadequate by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On March 24, 2009, a U.S. District Court ruled that hearings held by the Texas parole board before imposing sex offender parole conditions on prisoners not convicted of sex offenses were constitutionally inadequate. …
PLRA Three Strikes Applicable to Halfway House “Prisoner” by In a case of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has decided that detention in a halfway house, as a condition of mandatory supervision stemming from a criminal conviction, satisfies the definition of “prisoner” under the …
Texas’ Parole Condition X Violates Due Process by Gary Hunter Texas’ parole Condition X has come under scrutiny in a federal court case. On December 12, 2008, a U.S. magistrate judge issued a 30-page order granting partial summary judgment in favor of parolee David Brian Jennings, after concluding that the …
Prisoners Not Evacuated, Parolees Rounded Up as Hurricanes Hit by Gary Hunter On September 8, 2008, Texas Governor Rick Perry issued a disaster declaration for 88 counties as Hurricane Ike bore down on the Texas coastline. The 900-mile wide storm, with winds in excess of 100 mph “...is now in …
Contraband Smuggling by Texas Prison Guards Rarely Punished Harshly by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke A review conducted by a Houston newspaper concluded that a large quantity and variety of contraband is still being smuggled into Texas prisons by state prison guards, and those caught smuggling rarely receive harsh punishment. …
Sheriff and Guards Indicted: Sex, Misconduct and Contraband Scandal at Texas Jail by Matthew Clarke by Matt Clarke On February 27, 2009, a grand jury in Montague County, Texas returned a 106-count indictment against former Sheriff Bill Keating and ten jail guards, four prisoners and two other people in connection …
Indigent Texas Prisoners May No Longer be Required to Repay Cost of Court-Appointed Counsel by by Bill Habern On March 11, 2009, the Texas Court of Appeals in Amarillo issued an opinion in a case involving Gilbert Alexander Perez, an indigent defendant. Perez raised two issues on appeal. First was …
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Denied Summary Judgment by Texas prisoner John Williams filed a civil action against the Texas Department of Criminal Judgment (TDCJ) alleging denial of anesthetic drugs following his leg amputa¬tion. In response, TDCJ filed a motion for summary judgment contending Williams failed to exhaust institutional remedies …
Texas Court of Appeals Orders Clerk to File Prisoner's Notice of Appeal by On November 26, 2008, a Texas court of appeals granted a petition for a writ of mandamus and ordered the District Clerk of Walker County, Texas, to file a prisoner's pro se notice of appeal. Clifford Allen …
