§ 1997e(e) Governs First Amendment Claims in Fifth Circuit by The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district courts dismissal of a pro se prisoners §1983 action, as frivolous and barred by the physical injury requirement of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(e). The court …
McCoy v. TDCJ, TX, Response Motion to Dismiss, asthma death, 2006 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS CORPUS CHRISTI DIVISION L.J. MCCOY, et. al Plaintiffs v. ANN-MARIE DE LA ROSA, et. al. Defendants ' ' ' ' ' ' CIVIL ACTION NO. 05-CV-370 PLAINTIFFS’ RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT R …
Fall Escapes Plague Local, State Agencies in Houston Area by by Michael Rigby During a two week period in late 2005, prisoners in the Houston area escaped from all levels of custody. One prisoner escaped from the city jail, another vanished from the back of a prison van, and a …
Texas Prisoner Writers Retaliation Lawsuit Proceeds by David Reutter Texas Prisoner Writers Retaliation Lawsuit Proceeds by David M. Reutter A Texas federal district court has granted in part and denied in part prison officials motion to dismiss Texas prisoners lawsuit alleging he was retaliated against for having articles published criticizing …
Texas Counties Set To Raid State Prisoners Trust Fund Accounts by Texas Counties Set To Raid State Prisoners Trust Fund Accounts by Matthew T. Clarke Partially in response to legislation making it mandatory by 2007 for Texas counties to establish programs to collect fines, costs, restitution and fees from Texas …
Tillman v. Florida Department of Corrections, FL, Request for Discovery, Wrongful Death, Failure to Protect, 2006 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA TALLAHASSEE DIVISION SHELLEY TILLMAN , Plaintiff, Case No. 4:09-cv-423-RH/WCS v. FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS, et aI., Defendants. NOTICE OF SERVING PLAINTIFF'S FIRST …
Dallas Fake Drug Cases Settle For Millions, Jury Awards Damages by by Michael Rigby In 2001, police officers in Dallas, Texas, made 33 arrests in what has since become known as the fake drug scandal." The victims were all charged with possessing cocaine, based on supposedly positive field tests of …
Texas Prisoners Again Have Limited Right to Appear in Civil Cases by by Matthew T. Clarke In a well-reasoned opinion with copious citations, a Texas court of appeals held that Texas prisoners have a limited right to appear in civil cases even if they cannot justify a personal appearance. C.J., …
Texas Legislature Requires HIV Testing for Prisoners by Gary Hunter Texas prisoners must now be tested for HIV before they are allowed to leave prison. Rep. Yvonne Davis, D-Dallas, authored House Bill 43 which was signed on June 19, 2005, by Gov. Pick Perry, and went into effect on September …
Rebellion at CCA Prison in Texas by On August 27, 2005, a riot involving hundreds of prisoners broke out in a private prison run by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) in Mineral Wells, Texas, injuring a dozen prisoners and two guards. The sixteen-year-old, 2,100-bed facility holds prisoners with less than …
Theft of Prisoners Book by Guards Valid Legal Basis for Texas Civil Suit by Theft of Prisoners Book by Guards Valid Legal Basis for Texas Civil Suit A Texas court of appeals has held that a claim that two Texas state prison guards removed a law book from a prisoners …
Company Uses Prison Slave Labor for $100 Million Military Contract by The prison and military industrial complexes have collided, with a private military contractor poised to make millions off the sweaty backs of prisoners. Pennsylvania-based Woolrich Inc. plans to use the labor of federal prisoners to fulfill two multi-million-dollar contracts …
Texas Jails Troubled by Deaths, Negligence and Failed Inspections by Gary Hunter For decades Texas jails have been cesspool's of misery, medical neglect, brutality and over crowding. Class action litigation in the 1970's alleviated some of the worst aspects of the Texas jail system and led to modest improvements. By …
Texas State Auditor Questions Necessity of Prison Health Care Oversight Board by by Matthew T. Clarke The Texas State Auditor's Office has released a report which scathingly criticized the Correctional Managed Health Care Committee (Committee) for failing to perform its contractual duties and having several conflicts of interest with the …
Death Penalty for Texas Prison Horses Stirs Controversy by Between February 2003 and November 2004, the Texas prison system sold 53 horses to the Dallas Crown slaughterhouse in Kaufmann, Texas, for processing into meat for human consumption. This violates § 149.003 of the Texas Agriculture Code. The first offense is …
Ex-Prisoners Barred From Nursing in Texas by by Matthew T. Clarke Recently, the Dallas Morning News (DMN) generated articles decrying the presence of convicted drug and sex offenders in the nursing profession. Texas, like many states, has statutes denying ex-prisoners licensing in many state-licensed professions. In some professions, being convicted …
Texas Enacts Life Without Parole Law by On June 17, 2005, Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into law legislation that allows Texas juries to sentence defendants to life without the possibility of parole in capital cases. Senate Bill 60 replaces the previous non-death-penalty option of 40 years without the possibility …
Lethal Injection Painful, Study Suggests; U.S. Supreme Court to Consider Issue by by Michael Rigby Hundreds of prisoners killed by lethal injectionthe preferred method of execution in 37 states and the federal Bureau of Prisonsmay have suffered agonizing deaths due to a routine failure to administer enough anesthesia, according to …
Guards Flee Texas Prisons After Overtime Eliminated by Michael Rigby The virtual elimination of overtime pay for guards--a cost-cutting move by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ)--has contributed to rising turnover rates and probably comprised safety in the state's chronically understaffed prisons. In March 2003, TDCJ began awarding comp" …
Federal Prison Problematic For Texas Officials by Michael Rigby A 500-bed federal detention center may have caused more problems than it solved for cash-strapped Willacy County, Texas. Three county commissioners have already been convicted of accepting kickbacks from companies involved with the prison, and a state senator's ties to three …
