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Nov 27, 2005 · David Ruiz, the jailhouse lawyer whose historic 1972 lawsuit forced the Texas prison system into the 20th century, died on Nov. 12. He was 63 years old and had just been visited by his wife and three children at the prison hospital in Galveston, Texas. They were allowed to see him for only one hour.
- Two Tiers of Justice
- Our Gangs
- The Reformers
- The System Crumbles
- Their Gangs
- Down to Detergent
Prisons’ as we know them, are relatively new institutions. Before the American Revolution, jails existed in Europe and the British colonies, but their purpose was to hold accused men only until the conclusion of their trials. Upon conviction, felons were ordinarily sentenced to punishment by the cheap and swift means ancient society had provided: h...
If the golden age in Texas penology has already been reached—and I think it has—it came during the sixties, as a result of expansion of the system’s industrial and educational programs. For the first time industries were inaugurated not merely to satisfy the prison system’s internal needs but to earn revenue as well. In new plant operations, convic...
Dr. Beto resigned as prisons director in August 1972. His timing was felicitous. Beto’s handpicked successor, pink-faced W. J. Estelle, a second-generation California prisons manager, would have a much tougher time for reasons largely beyond his control. The nation was still living in an era of what appeared to be limitless prosperity. Pronouncemen...
The Ruizcase didn’t go to trial until October 1978, and the interval served the plaintiffs well. During the six years between the suit’s filing and the first day of trial testimony, federal courts paved the way to victory with rulings on behalf of prisoners, and Texas prisons became crowded—nearly 1000 of the 26,000 inmates were sleeping on the flo...
One afternoon late last September, inmate Calvin J. Williams jumped from his bunk in a panic. He was on fire. Someone had thrown a flammable liquid onto him. A makeshift bomb was in the cell with him too. Despite his pain, Williams picked up his mattress and flung it onto the bomb, preventing its detonation. As he flailed at the flames on his body,...
The phrase wardens most often used in talking to me about their troubles was “loss of control.” According to them, discipline has been weakened so much by the Ruiz affair that our prisons are on the brink of disaster. Journalists are used to cries that the sky is falling, and as a group, we’re rightly cynical about them. But my impression after loo...
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DAVE RUIZ - Former Gang Leader / Gospel Singer / Trumpeteer / Evangelist - Missionary. Event in Ronkonkoma, NY by Vivid Church and Robert Iannuccilli on Thursday, September 17 20156 posts in the discussion.
Ben Philpott of member station KUT in Austin, Texas, has a remembrance of Ruiz, who went to prison multiple times for aggravated robbery but spent his years in prison educating himself and ...
Nov 25, 2005 · David Ruiz, the Texas prison inmate whose name became synonymous with state prison reform, died Nov. 12 at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice hospital facility in Galveston.
Nov 18, 2005 · Nov. 18, 2005 12 AM PT. From Times Staff and Wire Reports. Longtime convict David Ruiz, 63, whose handwritten lawsuit more than three decades ago led to court-ordered prison improvements in...
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What was Ruiz v Estelle?
Estelle. 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]
