Texas Appeals Court Grants Prisoner Mandamus on Discovery by by Matthew T. Clarke A state appeals court in Texas has conditionally granted a prisoner's petition for a writ of mandamus to order the judge of a Texas state district court to hear and rule upon the prisoner's request for discovery …
TDCJ-ID Must Provide Procedures for Prisoners to Identify Evidence Supporting Grievances by by Matthew T. Clarke A Texas court of appeals has ruled that the Texas prison system is required by law to provide procedures for a prisoner to identify evidence to substantiate the prisoner's claim. Charles William Ingram, Jr., …
BOP Prisoner Release Public Notification Required Only If Current Offense Qualifies by John E Dannenberg by John E. Dannenburg ( The Fifth Circuit US Court of Appeals held that the statute requiring public notification of the release of federal prisoners convicted of drug trafficking or a crime of violence applied …
Former CCA Captain and Texas Probation Officer Pleads Guilty by On October 25, 2001, Jason Driskell, 27, a former captain at the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) operated Whiteville Correctional Facility (WCF) in Tennessee, pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice charges in federal court. Driskell admitted that in 1999 he …
Texas Prison Warden Pleads Guilty; Prison Workers Arrested in Major Drug Bust by A former Texas prison warden who pled guilty to stealing more than $9,300 from a charity fund was sentenced to 5 years probation by a Coryell County District Court in Gatesville, Texas. On October 18, 2001, Linda …
$250,000 Award for Paraplegic Dallas County Jail Prisoner by $250,000 Award For Paraplegic Dallas County Jail Prisoner by Matthew T. Clarke A paraplegic Texas prisoner has been awarded a quarter million dollars for pain and suffering caused by conditions in the Dallas County Jail (the jail). Brent Lawson, a Texas …
Johnson v. Johnson, TX, Complaint, Rape by Prisoner, 2002 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS WICHITA FALLS DIVISION RODERICK KEITH JOHNSON (#623028), Michael Unit, Tennessee Colony, Texas, ) ) ) Plaintiff, ) ) v. ) ) GARY JOHNSON, Executive Director, Texas ) Department of …
Res Judicata Dismissal of Texas Prisoner's Suit Reversed by by Matthew T. Clarke A Texas court of appeals has reversed the district court's res judicata based dismissal of a Texas state prisoner's personal injury suit chastising the lower court for using an improper procedure. Steven W. Howell, a Texas state …
PLRA Constitutional, Most of Ruiz Relief Terminated in Texas Suit by The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the constitutionality of the termination provisions of the PLRA, 18 U.S.C. § 3626. On remand, the district court terminated most of the relief previously ordered in the Ruiz case. This involves …
Indigent Texas Prisoners Subject to 31 Day Statute of Limitations by In two recent cases, Texas state restrictions on the filing of civil lawsuits, codified at Chapter 14 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code (TCPRC), in Texas state court have been upheld. One restriction includes a 31day statute …
U.S. Marshal's Conviction for Raping Prisoners Affirmed by The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a United States Marshal's conviction and sentence for raping female detainees and a court security officer in a federal courthouse. As a Deputy United States Marshal, Richard Urrabazo supervised detainees in the cell block of …
Texas Gives $2 Million to Proselytizing Prison Program by by Matthew T. Clarke The Texas Legislature appropriated an additional $1.5 million to expand the Interchange Freedom Initiative (IFI) to include prisoners who expect to be paroled to the DallasFort Worth area. Sponsored by Prison Fellowship Ministries, an organization founded by …
CCA Guard is "Public Official" Under Bribery Statute by CCA Guard is "Public Official" Under Bribery Statute The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a prison guard's bribery conviction, finding that he was a "public official" for purposes of the federal bribery statute. Shannon Thomas was employed as a guard …
Complaint Claims Texas Psychiatrist Molested Prisoner Patients by A complaint has been filed in the 87th Judicial District Court of Anderson County, Texas, alleging that John W. Goodman, M.D., a former prison psychiatrist at the Gurney Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), sexually assaulted many of his …
Tarrant County (Texas) Jail's 'God Pod' Unconstitutional by by Matthew T. Clarke The Texas Supreme Court has held that the Chaplain's Education Unit (CEU) at the Tarrant County Jail unconstitutionally violates the separation of church and state. In 1992, former Tarrant County (Texas) Sheriff David Williams initiated the CEU program, …
Staff Shortage in Nation's Prisons by Gary Hunter Across the nation, states are plagued by a shortage of prison guards. A decade of building prisons has created an industry that employs more people than General Electric, and costs taxpayers in excess of $40 billion a year. To fill the shortage …
Two Studies Criticize Texas Department of Criminal Justice by Gary Hunter Two independent studies, one by the Institute on Crime, Justice, and Corrections, the other by Security Response Technologies, indicate that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) needs stricter guidelines in assigning prisoners to housing areas and work details. …
Texas Jury Awards $70,000 in Prison Stabbing by Ronald Young In May 2001, a federal court jury in Corpus Christi, Texas, held three Texas prison officials responsible for a 1997 attack during which a prisoner at the McConnell Unit was stabbed about a dozen times by another prisoner who had …
Jury Awards Imprisoned KKK Member $55,000 in Texas Jail Beating by On July 19, 2000, a federal jury in Houston, Texas, awarded a Ku Klux Klan member damages totaling $55,000 after he was beaten by black prisoners with whom he was forced to share a cell. Larry Webster, 42, was …
Rape Rarely Prosecuted in Texas Prisons by Gary Hunter According to recent reports, rape in Texas' prisons is the highest in the nation. Based on research from 19952000, of the 660 cases reported barely 4 percent have been prosecuted. Why does the state that prides itself on having the highest …
