Tulia Undercover Deputy Tom Coleman Convicted of Perjury by Hans Sherrer Tom Coleman was on top of the world after being honored as the Texas Department of Public Safety's 1999 Outstanding Lawman of the Year. The award was for his undercover investigation between January 1998 and July 1999 in the …
Cameron County, Texas, Jail Guards Indicted for Drug Smuggling, Theft, Sexual Misconduct by by Michael Rigby The problems began almost as soon as the Cameron County Jail system's newly built Carrizales-Rucker Detention Center opened in the summer of 2002. Just months after the $19 million maximum security jail began operations …
USP Beaumont, Texas: Murder and Mayhem in the Thunder Dome by Leah Caldwell Located in East Texas, the Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) at Beaumont is made up of a trio of federal prisons that are home to 5,667 prisoners. These prisons are run by the Bureau of Prisons, which is …
Houston Grand Juries Mostly Law-Enforcement by Matthew Clarke Houston Grand Juries Mostly Law-Enforcement and Government Employees by Matthew T. Clarke Ever since a ruling by the U. S. Supreme Court in Smith v. State of Texas, 311 U.S. 128, 61 S.Ct. 164, 85 L.Ed. 84 (1940), grand juries have been …
Texas Prison Expert Pays the Price for Telling the Truth by Matthew Clarke by Matthew T. Clarke Tony Fabelo was the head of the Texas Criminal Justice Policy Council for two decades. He survived multiple changes of administration by doing a great job as the state's top number-cruncher on prison …
Antibiotic Resistant Staph Infections Continue to Plague Prisons, Jails by Michael Rigby Antibiotic Resistant Staph Infections Continue to Plague Prisons, Jails by Michael Rigby Chelsea Johnson, 30, said it began as a small pimple that formed on her right cheek shortly after she arrived at the Orange County Jail in …
Arbitrary Draconian Restrictions on Texas Parolees by by Matthew T. Clarke Texas parolees have been subjected to a number of draconian measures not necessarily related to their conviction. For instance, parolees who were not convicted of sex offenses have been made to register as sex offenders and take sex offender …
Texas Attorney General Clarifies Confiscation Law Governing Prisoner Art Sales by Michael Rigby Texas prisoners can sell artwork over the internet and retain the proceeds as long as the value is not increased because of their notoriety, an opinion by Attorney General Greg Abbott has confirmed. The Attorney General's January …
Wackenhut Settles Suit Over Premature Birth for $98,000 by On August 12, 2004, Wackenhut Corrections Corporation, now known as GEO Group, Inc., settled a suit alleging that inadequate medical care at a 640-bed Wackenhut-run jail caused a prisoner to give birth prematurely. Melissa Villarreal, 32, a former prisoner at the …
Suit Over Rape of Prisoner By TDCJ Employee Settled for $118,318.56 and Beach Property by By Matthew T. Clarke On November 19, 2004, a Texas prisoner who was raped by a Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) guard settled his suit against the guard and TDCJ for a total of …
Sex Offenders Living In Nursing Homes by by Matthew T. Clarke A recent study revealed that hundreds of sex offenders live in state-regulated nursing homes nationwide. An Oklahoma-based advocacy group, A Perfect Cause, performed a computer search of the nation's sex-offender registries and cross-matched it with the addresses of the …
Crime Lab Problems Continue In Texas, Elsewhere by Michael Rigby More than two years after the closure of its DNA division, the Houston Police Department (HPD) crime lab remains a lesson in how not to run a forensics unit. Recent developments include the discovery of 280 boxes of misplaced evidence …
Fifth Circuit Holds Sleep Deprivation From Constant Illumination Constitutional by The Fifth Circuit court of appeals, in an unpublished opinion, held that alleging sleep deprivation caused by constant illumination was not a claim with an arguable basis in law for which a prisoner may be granted relief. Juan Chavarria, a …
Texas Now Requires D.A.'s Approval For Wrongful Conviction Compensation by by Matthew T. Clarke An amendment to the 2001 Texas law allowing compensation of the wrongly convicted requires that people applying for compensation present a letter from the district attorney who convicted them certifying the person's innocence. In 2001, State …
Fifth Circuit Reinstates Texas Prisoner's Property Confiscation/Retaliation Suit by by Matthew T. Clarke The Fifth Circuit court of appeals issued an opinion vacating the district court's dismissal of a prisoner's suit alleging prison officials confiscated his property in retaliation for his criticism of the prison. Billy Fredrick Allen, a Texas …
Texas: Prison-Rape Capital Of The Country by Michael Rigby Texas: Prison-Rape Capital Of The Country by Michael Rigby Despite reputed efforts by officials in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to curb prison rapes, the number of reported sexual assaults has increased 160% in the past 4 years, from …
Texas: "Prison-Rape Capital Of The Country" by Michael Rigby Texas: "Prison-Rape Capital Of The Country" by Michael Rigby Despite reputed efforts by officials in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to curb prison rapes, the number of reported sexual assaults has increased 160% in the past 4 years, from …
Texas Prisoner Kills Prison Employee and Himself by On October 21, 2004, a prisoner at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s 2,800-bed, maximum-security Connely Unit in Kenedy, Texas, killed a prison employee, then committed suicide. Gary Laskowski, 38, a Texas state prisoner, had been serving a life sentence in TDCJ …
CCA Pays House Majority Leader’s Personal Charity $100,000 by By Matthew T. Clarke In August, 2004, Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) gave House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, (R) Sugar Land, Texas, a check for $100,000 for his DeLay Foundation for Kids during a Lexington, Kentucky, political fund raiser for DeLay’s …
Texas State Equipment and Employees Used for Private Prison Labor Lobbying by Matthew Clarke by Matthew T. Clarke Republican State Representative Ray Allen of Grand Prairie, Texas, Chairman of the Texas House Corrections Committee, has been using his state employees and state equipment to operate a private firm that specializes …
