by Matt Clarke
The Texas legislature has erected such a hodgepodge of criminal court fees that even the court administrators and clerks don’t know how to apply them. These fees, which are frequently not used for their intended purposes, amount to a hidden tax on the poorest members of society ...
by Matt Clarke
In a November 14, 2012 opinion, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals held prosecutors are not required to prove that a probationer was able to pay fees and fines when his probation was revoked due to nonpayment. The Court of Appeals reversed the probation revocation on remand, ...
On March 7, 2011, an Iowa federal district court granted a motion for a new trial after a jury awarded $259,155 to a woman who was improperly strip searched when she was arrested and booked into jail. Before another trial was held, a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling changed the ...
by Matt Clarke
The number of prisoners granted medical parole in Texas decreased in fiscal year 2012 compared with those paroled due to medical reasons in the previous two years. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles approved just 72 prisoners for medical parole in FY 2012, down from 100 ...
by Matt Clarke
On March 7, 2012, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in which it questioned the constitutionality of a Maricopa County, Arizona jail policy that requires male pretrial detainees who have not been convicted of a crime to wear pink underwear. The appellate court did ...
Colorado County Jail Refuses to Accept Cities’ Prisoners
By Matt Clarke
A spat over how many prisoners the county jail in Adams County, Colorado will accept went public when five chiefs of police for cities in Adams County called a press conference to criticize the sheriff. They said he was ...
by Matt Clarke
In 2009, former Harris County, Texas state district judge Woodrow “Woody” Densen was caught on surveillance video keying a neighbor’s car, causing significant damage. The video received widespread media coverage. He pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief and agreed to pay a $1,500 fine ...
by Matt Clarke
Studies have shown that the prevalence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) among adult prisoners is more than seven times higher than among non-incarcerated adults.
Traumatic brain injury occurs when a person suffers a disruption of brain function due to an injury – such as an impact from ...
by Matt Clarke
The prospects for cost savings in the operation of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), now the nation’s largest state prison system, seemed optimistic in 2011 when the state made the unprecedented decision to close a prison. The closure of the 1,000-bed Central Unit in Sugarland ...
by Matt Clarke
The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) of the U.S. Department of Justice has released the most recent in a series of statistical reports on state prosecutors.
The report covers 2,330 prosecutors’ offices serving judicial districts in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Other than D.C., ...
