Political Updates
Chapter Nine: Laws, Courts, and Justice

Prison System, pgs. 387-388

In 2001, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Judge William Wayne Justice to explain the need for his continuing supervision of portions of the state prison operations. The Court's decision was based on the federal Prison Litigation Reform Act, which limits the power of federal judges over state prisons. As a result, Justice ended his supervision of prison population caps. He refused to resolve the Ruiz case, however, and ordered prison officials to propose solutions to three remaining problems:

• Excessive use of force against prisoners by prison personnel
• Administrative segregation of mentally ill inmates
• Protection of inmates from assaults and abuse from other prisoners

Correctional officers received a second pay raise in 2001. These compensation adjustments produced some improvement in the number of guards employed by the prison system. Texas officials have now begun to recruit guards from surrounding states with higher unemployment rates than the Lone Star State.