Exceeding Doctor's Work Limit Order Actionable Under Eighth Amendment by John E Dannenberg Exceeding Doctor's Work Limit Order Actionable Under Eighth Amendment by John E. Dannenberg The Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that prison officials' forcing of a prisoner to work in excess of a four hour doctor-established …
Texas Prison Rocked by Guard Killing, Riot by A guard at the McConnell Unit prison in Beeville, Texas, was fatally stabbed a week before Christmas, 1999. Three days later 80 convicts escaped from their ad-seg cells and took control of the unit for three and a half hours before riot …
Flight to Texas Execution 'Not Life Threatening' by Texas prisoner David Martin Long had a date with the nation's busiest executioner (who had already dispatched 31 souls in 1999) on Wednesday, December 8, 1999. But Long decided to go out on his own terms: prison guards found him unconscious from …
$4.1 Million Award In Suit Over Sexual Assault of Prisoners by Official by $4.1 Million Award In Suit Over Sexual Assault of Prisoners By Official by Matthew T. Clarke A federal district court in Texas has awarded two female prisoners who were the victims of sexual assault by a prison …
Brazoria Trial Brings Acquittals, Convictions in Jail Beatings by In October, 1999, a federal jury returned acquittals and a minor conviction against private prison guards charged with beating and abusing Missouri prisoners. As previously reported in PLN, some 100 Missouri prisoners were sent to the Brazoria county jail in Texas …
Out-of-State Prisoner Housing Contracts Subject to Long-Arm Jurisdiction by A federal court in Missouri has held that Missouri prisoners whose incarceration was contracted to Brazoria County, Texas, could sue Brazoria County in Missouri. This is a lawsuit filed in Missouri federal district court by Missouri state prisoners who were abused …
Administrative Remedies Exhausted When Response Time Elapses by The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit held that prison administrative remedies are deemed exhausted when the time period for the prison's response elapses, regardless of whether or not the prison has responded. 42 U.S.C. § 1997e requires that prisoners exhaust …
Prisoner Strip Search Warrants Fourth Amendment Analysis by Ronald Young The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit held that a prisoner's Fourth Amendment claim alleging unreasonable multiple strip searches performed on him by a female guard were not frivolous, as would warrant dismissal under the PLRA. The court also …
Texas Settles with Hanged Prisoner's Family by The state of Texas agreed in June 1999 to pay $215,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by the family of Rodney Hulin, a 17-year-old Texas state prisoner who was found hanging in his cell in 1996. About 30 days after arriving at the …
Pro Se Texas Prisoner Awarded $1.08 Million in Failure to Protect Suit by In May, 1999, a federal jury in San Antonio, Texas, awarded Texas prisoner William Wallace Campbell $80,000 in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages in a failure to protect lawsuit. Campbell represented himself pro se …
Texas Prison Warehouses (Letter) by DG "Tex" Hoffman by : D.G. "Tex" Hoffman The Texas Dept. of Corrections operates the nation's second largest prison system after California, including 20 transfer facilities. Transfer facilities are Texas' answer to overcrowded county jails; the first facility was built in mid- 1994 when jails …
Missouri Proposes $2.2 Million Settlement by On June 25, 1999, the state of Missouri filed a proposed $2.2 million settlement in U.S. District Court that would dispose of 32 lawsuits filed in state and federal courts by 700 - 2,100 Missouri prisoners abused in Texas jails. The lawsuits stem partly …
Texas Jail Whistleblower Awarded $3.3 Million by On January 26, 1999, the Lubbock county commissioners court approved a $3.3 million settlement with fired jailer Karen Strube. Strube was a jail guard in the Lubbock County jail in Texas. She complained to the Texas Department of Health (DOH) that she had …
Fact Issue of Physical Injury Precludes Summary Judgment by Ronald Young The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit held that the material fact issue as to whether prisoner suffered more than de minimis physical injury from alleged excessive force precluded summary judgement in favor of prison officials. Juan Gomez, …
De Novo Review for § 1915A Dismissals by The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit held that dismissals by district courts under 28 U.S.C. § 1915A should be reviewed de novo on appeal. Section 1915A requires district courts to screen prisoner lawsuits and dismiss those which are frivolous, malicious …
No Qualified Immunity for Texas Sheriff and CCRI Guards Who Abused Missouri Prisoners by by Matthew Clarke Afederal district court in Texas has ruled that prisoners who were kicked, bitten by dogs, shocked, and subjected to a public strip and body cavity search by untrained, improperly supervised private guards during …
Jury Awards Beaten Texas Prisoner $250,000 by On December 15 1998, a federal jury in San Antonio, Texas, awarded Texas state prisoner Robert Sikes $250,000 in damages for a beating administered by prison guards. In 1995 Sikes was imprisoned in a Karnes county state prison. During a dispute with a …
Tarrant County Jail's Christian Education Unit May Violate Texas and Federal Establishment Clauses by In a detailed and well-reasoned opinion, a Texas state appellate court held that the establishment of a Christian Education Unit (CEU) in a county jail may violate the Establishment Clauses in the Texas and federal constitutions. …
PLRA Attorney Fee Cap Applies in $65,000 Beating Case by Afederal district court in Texas has ruled that the attorney fee cap in the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e, applies to work performed by attorneys appointed after the enactment of the PLRA to represent pro se …
Federal Habeas Not Subject to PLRA by The court of appeals for the Fifth circuit held that 28 U.S.C. § 2241 habeas petitions are not subject to the filing fee provisions of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA). Samuel Davis, a federal prisoner, filed a writ of mandamus to compel …
