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Circuit Holds Sleep Deprivation From Constant Illumination Constitutional by The Fifth Circuit court of appeals, in an unpublished opinion, held that alleging sleep deprivation caused by constant illumination was not a claim with an arguable basis in law for which a prisoner may be granted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 …
Fifth Circuit Allows Sexual-Orientation Discrimination in Texas Prisoner Rape Suit by Matthew Clarke by Matthew T. Clarke The Fifth Circuit court of appeals held that a homosexual prisoner who prison officials allegedly allowed to be repeatedly sexually assaulted and made a sex slave may sue the prison officials for both …
Judges Of Death by Mumia Abu-Jamal As the nation pondered the fate of a young California man being sentenced to death, the case of another man, one lesser-known, one without wealth or whiteness, comes back before the nation's highest court, after having been shunted through a series of killing courts …
Mailbox Rule Applies to Texas Prisoners Civil Filings by The Texas Supreme Court has held that the mailbox rule applies to civil litigation filed by Texas prisoners in Texas state courts, overruling at least two previous court of appeals decisions. Charles Clay Warner, Jr., a Texas state prisoner, brought suit …
Texas County, Deputy Settle Sex Assault Case For $50,000 by A woman who claimed she was sexually assaulted by a Kleberg County, Texas, sheriff's deputy has settled her civil rights lawsuit against the county and the deputy for $50,000. On May 16, 2001, Sarah Jean Hernandez, 22, was arrested at …
Texas "Gang Expert" Indicted for Sex Assaults by On June 17, 2004, top Texas prison administrator Salvador "Sammy" Buentello was indicted on felony charges that he sexually assaulted three female employees of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). A week earlier Buentello had been indicted on four misdemeanor charges …
Texas Supreme Court clarifies Procedures For Civil Court Prisoner Appearances by Texas Supreme Court Clarifies Procedures For Civil Court Prisoner Appearances by Matthew T. Clarke The Supreme Court of Texas recently clarified the procedures a prisoner must follow to secure the right to personally appear in a civil court proceeding. …
Prisons, Profits and Prophets by Bill Berkowitz The nation's largest private prison corporation is joining forces with conservative faith-based ministries by Bill Berkowitz In an era where the Bush Administration touts faith-based organizations as engines of individual and social transformation, and is actively recruiting and funding religious organizations to deliver …
Fifth Circuit Affirms Termination of Guajardo (Texas Prison Mail) Suit by By Matthew T. Clarke On March 16, 2004, the Fifth Circuit issued a per curiam opinion affirming the district court's termination of the 20-year-old consent decree which had regulated prisoner mail in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). …
Texas Prison Guard's Sentence for Rape Reinstated by Texas Prison Guard's Sentence For Rape Reinstated The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has reinstated the sentence of a Texas prison guard who had impersonated a police officer, using a fake badge to coerce women into sex acts. Charles Melvin Page, a …
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Clarifies Law Crediting "Street Time" by by Matthew T. Clarke The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has recently clarified the meaning of the recent statute allowing the award of parole "street time" credits for prisoners convicted of non-violent crimes. Lucian Lee Spann and Andrew Michael …
Texas Prisoner's Retaliation Claim Survives Summary Judgment by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth. Circuit reversed a district court's dismissal of a prisoner's complaint that prison officials retaliated against him for exercising his right to file a grievance. Robert Hart, 38, is a prisoner at the 2,800-man Albert …
