March 2, 1999
Court Oversight of Texas Prisons Must
Continue, Judge Rules
By RICK LYMAN
HOUSTON -- A federal judge ruled Monday that Texas' huge prison system has improved since a landmark ruling more than a decade ago that put the system under court control, but not enough to warrant ending that oversight and returning full control of the prisons to the state.
Judge William Wayne Justice ruled in Austin that "systemic conditions of confinement in administrative segregation, failure to provide reasonable safety for assaulted and abused inmates and excessive use of force by correctional officers in Texas prisons violate the Constitution of the United States."
It was the same judge who ruled in 1983 -- after a lawsuit on behalf of
several Texas inmates -- that the state's prison system was unconstitutional and needed to be placed under court control. Among the judge's chief complaints was severe overcrowding, but he also found fault with the medical treatment and the safeguards for prisoners inside the walls.
Texas prisons officials reacted to the ruling with a decade-long campaign of prison-building and early releases that eased the overcrowding and led to a 1992 ruling by Justice that the day-to-day running of the prisons could be given back to state officials -- but the judge retained final oversight for the system and demanded further improvements.
The ruling Monday was in response to a request filed by the state in 1996 that all federal court oversight be ended. Justice heard three weeks of testimony last month in Austin, much of it from prisoners who complained of being mistreated and abused by guards and other inmates.
John Cornyn, a Republican who was elected Texas' attorney general in
November and inherited the case from his predecessor, Dan Morales, a
Democrat, said that Monday's ruling was regrettable but not unexpected.
At least, he said, it gives state lawyers something that they can take to a higher appeals court in an attempt to go over Justice's head and get the ruling overturned.
"We all along felt this was a first step in a process," Cornyn said. "We are certainly disappointed and respectfully disagree with Justice's decision, but all along we felt the final decision would be made by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans and that's where we head next."
The state has 30 days to appeal Monday's decision, but the attorney
general left no doubt that it was what he intended to do. The appeals
court will then have two years to issues its ruling.
"We have won the battle, but hopefully we will win the war," Cornyn said. In his 167-page decision Monday, Justice gave lawyers from the state and lawyers representing the state's prisoners three months to come up with a reform plan that would satisfy him. If not, Justice said, he will issue his own plan and force it on state officials.
"Texas prison inmates continue to live in fear, a fear that is
incomprehensible to most of the state's free-world citizens," Justice wrote.
"More vulnerable inmates are raped, beaten, owned and sold by more
powerful ones." Inmates locked away in what is known as administrative segregation, a kind of solitary confinement, are subject to particular abuse, he said,especially those suffering from mental illnesses. Too often, guards rely on excessive use of force to maintain control and prisoners are often forced to pay for protection from other inmates with money, services or sex.
"Such practices and conditions cannot stand in our society under our
constitution," the judge ruled.
Texas prison officials have long contended that they have transformed
their state's prison system since the dark days that led to the initial ruling, making their system at least as good, and in many cases better than, other prison systems around the country. While there were still bound to be some abuses in a prison system so large, they said, the abuses are not frequent or systemic enough to warrant continued federal court oversight.
"The system is accredited as being among the best in the nation in safety for inmates, staff and the people of Texas alike," Allan Polunsky, chairman of the Texas Board of Criminal Justice, told The Associated Press. "It's time to quit wasting time and money on this needless lawsuit."
None.
