Ruiz v. Estelle

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Ruiz v. Estelle, 503

F. Supp. 1265 (S.D. Tex. 1980), filed in United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, eventually became the most far-reaching lawsuit on the conditions of prison incarceration in American history.[1]

It began as a

United States Constitution,[2] with the original report issued in 1980, a 118-page decision by Judge William Justice (Ruiz v. Estelle, 503 F.Supp. 1295).[3]

The decision led to federal oversight of the system, with a prison construction boom and "sweeping reforms ... that fundamentally changed how Texas prisons operated."[4][5]

David Resendez Ruíz

David Resendez Ruíz was a

Mexican-American from East Austin, Texas.[6][7]

The son of migrant farmworkers and the youngest of 13 children, he got into trouble with the law from an early age; as a child he was arrested for fighting and shoplifting. After an arrest for a car theft, 12-year-old Ruíz received a sentence to serve time in

San Antonio. Ruíz had four sessions in Gatesville. After Ruíz left Gatesville for the final time, he turned 17, which made him an adult in the Texas penal system.[8]

After another car theft, he was sentenced to serve time in the

Texas Department of Corrections (TDC). He initially was placed in Huntsville; two weeks later he was assigned to the Ramsey Farm in Brazoria County, Texas, where he worked in fields. In Ramsey, Ruíz attempted to kill an inmate whom he believed was planning to have Ruíz killed;[8] the stabbing injured but did not kill the prisoner. The prison authorities beat Ruíz as a punishment. During his confinement in Ramsey, Ruíz had also committed lesser infractions. His first adult sentence lasted seven years. After he left prison, Ruíz married a woman named Rose Marie and the two had a daughter together.[9]

Thirteen months after his release, in July 1968, Ruíz was again placed in the custody of the TDC; he said that he had "picked up the gun" because he had no education or trade skills to support himself and his family. He was then assigned to the

Eastham Unit in Houston County, where he continued to work in fields. While at Eastham, Ruíz participated in a failed escape attempt.[9] The warden of Eastham and George Beto
, the TDC director, escorted Ruíz back to prison.

After a week in the infirmary, Ruíz was placed in solitary confinement for 45 days; there he decided to become a prison activist.[10] There, David Ruiz joined a group of "writ writers" and activists known as "Eight Hoe" under the leadership of Fred Cruz and his attorney Frances Jalet. Ruiz joined a wide social movement of prisoners who drew upon civil rights and labor resistance, as well as the sharp critique of the criminal justice by Black Power and the Chicano Movement. After Ruíz left solitary confinement, he refused to work in the fields any longer and cut his Achilles tendon with a razor. Because of the self-inflicted injuries, Ruíz was no longer required to work, and he was sent to various correctional and medical facilities.[7] Ruíz had committed many disciplinary infractions, including the stabbing, the escape attempt, and the refusal to work, so he was sent to the Wynne Unit, where he met Fred Cruz, a prisoner who filed successful lawsuits against the prison system. At the Wynne Unit, Ruíz, Cruz, and other prisoners worked together to file lawsuits against TDC.[11]

Ruíz died while incarcerated in 2005 at a Texas prison hospital at the age of 63.[12]

Subsequent litigation

There followed a long period of further litigation in the form of

U.S. Congress enacted the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) to address these issues as well as abuse of the prison litigation process.[13][14]

However, in October 1997, the district court, still not satisfied with the compliance of the TDC, gave permission for continuing site visits by attorneys and experts for the inmate class, and this continued into 1999. In response to this, the TDC issued more than 450,000 pages of evidence and accepted 50 additional site visits.

mentally ill inmates" that it found.[13]

In 2007, in the consolidated case of

U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, set forth limitations on the extent of prison litigation.[16][17]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Reynolds, Carl. "The final chapters of Ruiz v. Estelle, page 1". www.allbusiness.com. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
  2. ^ Lucko, Paul. "Handbook of Texas Online - Pope, Lawrence Chalmous". www.tshaonline.org. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
  3. ^ "Ruiz v. Estelle, 503 F.Supp. 1295 (1980)" (PDF). PDF. 1980. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 27, 2007. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
  4. Dallas Morning News
    . June 8, 2002.
  5. ^ Crouter, Mary (November 22, 2010). "Transforming the Texas prison system". UTNews. Retrieved October 22, 2018.
  6. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8050-8069-8
    .
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8050-8069-8
    .
  8. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8050-8069-8
    .
  9. ^
    ISBN 978-0-8050-8069-8
    .
  10. ISBN 978-0-8050-8069-8
    .
  11. ISBN 978-0-8050-8069-8
    .
  12. ^ "David Ruiz Obituary (2005) Austin American-Statesman". Legacy.com.
  13. ^ a b c Reynolds, Carl. "The final chapters of Ruiz v. Estelle, page 2". www.allbusiness.com. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
  14. ^ "Prison Litigation Reform Act" (PDF). PDF. Retrieved November 4, 2009.
  15. ^ Reynolds, Carl. "The final chapters of Ruiz v. Estelle, page 4". www.allbusiness.com. Retrieved November 5, 2009.
  16. ^ "Jones v. Bock". www.law.cornell.edu. Retrieved November 7, 2009.
  17. ^ Wallace Jr., Paul Starett (March 7, 2007). "Supreme Court Decision in Jones v. Bock:Exhaustion Requirements under the Prison Litigation Reform Act" (PDF). PDF. CRS Report for Congress. Retrieved November 7, 2009. [permanent dead link]

Further reading

https://uncpress.org/book/9781469653570/we-are-not-slaves/

External links
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