CCA Settles Wrongful Death Suit in Texas For $60,000 by In 1998, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) paid $60,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the father of a prisoner who died from a drug overdose at a CCA-operated prison. Hugh Wayne Martin, a Texas state prisoner, was transferred to …
Texas Prison Guards Who Murdered a Convict Sent to Federal Prison by On March 13, 2002, two former Texas prison guards admitted in plea agreements that they beat a prisoner to death. Their pleas were accepted by U.S. District Judge Howell Cobb who sentenced them to federal prison. Joel Lambright …
Denial of Injunction Against Federal Guard's Sexual Harassment/Retaliation Reversed by Denial of Injunction Against Federal Guard's Sexual Harassment/Retaliation Reversed The Fifth Circuit court of appeals has reversed the denial of a Texas federal prisoner's motion for a temporary restraining order (TRO) seeking relief from sexual harassment and retaliation by a …
Texas Rioting Infraction Upheld by The plaintiff was found guilty at a disciplinary hearing of participating in a prison riot and sentenced to 10 years' loss of good time among other things. The court notes that whether there is a liberty interest in good time in Texas is undecided, but …
Class Properly Certified in House Demolition Case by The plaintiffs alleged a policy of demolishing repairable homes without notice in black areas, consistently with prior overt racial classifications. Defendants appeal class certification interlocutorily and the court starts by addressing standing. It finds standing to seek remedies against ongoing harm, but …
Suit over Door Injury Medical Co-Pay Dismissed by The plaintiff alleged that he was injured when a metal door closed on him and that he waited 90 minutes for medical attention. The claim about the door is dismissed as constituting only negligence. The medical care claim is dismissed for lack …
AEDPA Time Limit Runs from Date of Hearing, Tolled During Exhaustion by The petitioner lost good time in a disciplinary proceeding and sought habeas relief. The one-year statute of limitations of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA) began to run on the date of the disciplinary …
Fifth Circuit Affirms Dismissal Of Suit For Execution Protocol Absent Stating Alternatives by Texas death row prisoner Donald Aldrich challenged the dismissal of his § 1983 lawsuit alleging Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment violation to the constitutionality of Texas's execution protocol. The district court claimed no issue in which relief could …
Product Liability Suit by Prisoner Welder Dismissed by The plaintiff alleged that he was forced to weld with thoriated tungsten electrodes, which contain a radioactive substance, as part of his prison work assignment. He also smoked two packs a day for 45 years. The court performs a Daubert analysis and …
Fifth Circuit Upholds Damages in Strip Search Suit by The three plaintiffs (along with about 100 others) were detained for about three hours and strip searched during the execution of a search warrant at a night club. The strip searches were unlawful absent individualized reasonable suspicion or probable cause (the …
PLRA Governs Motion to Disclose Grand Jury Records by A criminal defendant moved for disclosure of matters before a grand jury. The district court said that the matter was a criminal proceeding to which the PLRA's in forma pauperis restrictions were inapplicable. At 827: We have recognized, however, that proceedings …
Fifth Circuit Discusses Title VII Class Certification by The test for commonality is met where there is at least one issue the resolution of which will affect all or a significant number of class members. At 405: "While the commonality hurdle is not particularly high, a plaintiff must go beyond …
Texas Supreme Court: Sex Offender Civil Commitment Statute Is Constitutional by By Matthew T. Clarke On May 20, 2005, the Supreme Court of Texas (SCT) held that the Texas Civil Commitment of Sexually Violent Predators Act (the Act), Chapter 841, Texas Health and Safety Code, is not punitive and therefore …
New Trial Ordered Over Guard's Negligence In Texas Jail Prisoner's Suicide by Ricardo Alvarado's parents challenged a Texas State court's jury verdict clearing guards of negligence regarding his jail suicide. They claimed that the trial court erred in presenting evidence and in the submission of the charges. The court's ruling …
Guard Firing for Advising Coworker to Get Counsel Upheld by The plaintiff correction officer was fired after he accompanied another officer to a meeting with Internal Affairs and advised him to get an attorney before talking to them. He was charged with tampering with a witness and also with failure …
Record Number of Texas Prison Guards Arrested by Matthew Clarke by Matthew T. Clarke It has often been said that it?s hard to tell the cops from the crooks. In Texas this may be true for prison guards as well. In April 2006, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) …
Contracting Tuberculosis in Prison States Claim by The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit hell that a district court when it dismissed, for failing to state a claim, a Texas prisoner's lawsuit complaining of filth, overcrowded conditions and that as result of the overcrowding plaintiff contracted tuberculosis. While the …
Prison Guard Convicted of Filing False Disciplinary Reports by A federal district court denied a motion by Brazoria county jail guard Wilton Wallace to dismiss federal criminal charges against him stemming from the filing of false disciplinary reports against prisoners at the jail. Wallace unsuccessfully argued that prisoners have no …
Paraplegic States Claim over Ad-Seg Conditions by Paraplegic States Claim Over Ad-Seg Conditions The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit affirmed in part, reversed and remanded in part, numerous claims made by a paraplegic Texas state prisoner in administrative segregation. Prior panel rulings in this case are reported at …
Too Low Attorney Fee Award in Jail Beating Vacated by Too Low Attorney Fee Award in Jail Beating vacated The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded a jury verdict and attorney fee award entered by a district court in Texas. The …
