Fifth Circuit Upholds Refusal to Modify Ruiz Consent Decree by The court of appeals for the Fifth Circuit upheld a district Court ruling denying Texas prison officials' motion to modify prison conditions consent decree. Citing an unexpected, sharp rise in prisoner admissions, to the Texas prison system the defendants in …
Most of Ruiz Relief Terminated Under PLRA by Under the PLRA, the district court terminated most of the previously-ordered prospective relief aimed at correcting unconstitutional conditions in Texas prisons. Relief was terminated in areas involving prison staffing, discipline, single-cell housing for prisoners in administrative segregation, access to courts, visitation, overcrowding, …
Termination of Prospective Relief Under PLRA Constitutional by The defendants in the 30-year class-action Ruiz prison reform suit moved under the PLRA for termination of prospective relief. The district court held a hearing on the motion and denied it, ruling that the termination provisions of the PLRA unconstitutionally violated the …
Texas Prison Officials Held in Contempt in Prison Conditions Case by A federal district court Texas held Texas prison officials in contempt for procrastinating in implementing court-ordered prison reforms. The district court held that prison officials had deliberately ignored the court's orders in the following areas of controversy: (1) the …
U.S. Supreme Court Defines Retroactivity by The United States Supreme Court held that a new statute must state its provisions apply retroactively when it would impair rights a party possessed when they acted, increases their liability for past conduct or imposes new duties with respect to transactions already completed. This …
Mandatory Supervision in Private Corrections Facility Allowed in Texas by On June 29, 2005, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held that a prisoner released to mandatory supervision may be confined to a community corrections facility. James McCurry, a Texas prisoner, was placed on mandatory supervision pursuant to Texas Government …
Texas: Fifth Circuit Reinstates Epileptic Prisoner's Federal, State Claims by In this appeal by an epileptic individual who suffered a seizure in the Kerr County (Texas) Jail, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that fact issues precluded summary judgment of his federal claims and that he stated causes …
Notice of Rules Required Before Infraction by The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit held that two federal prisoners in Texas were denied due process when they were disciplined for violating a non existent prison rule. The court also required that the lowers court determine if the defendants had …
Texas Appeals Court Upholds Epileptic Prisoner's $60,000 Award by In this appeal by Harris County, Texas, and Sheriff Jack Heard (Appellants), the state Court of Appeals, 14th District, upheld a $60,000 jury verdict in favor of a former epileptic prisoner who was injured as a result of Appellants' negligence. On …
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 …
