PROGRAM INFO
- Title:
- Prison Reform In Texas: An Interview With Writer David RuíZ, Charles Sullivan And Pauline Sullivan Of The Citizens United For The Rehabilitation Of Errants (CURE)
- Program #
- 1981-40
- Theme:
- Politics
- Series:
- Social Issues
- Host:
- Linda Fregoso
- Guests:
- Charles Sullivan, David Ruíz, Pauline Sullivan
- Date:
- Aug 19, 1981
Prison Reform in Texas: an interview with writer David Ruíz, Charles Sullivan and Pauline Sullivan of the Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE)
Linda Fregoso speaks with David Ruiz, a former inmate, and Charles and Pauline Sullivan, prisoner advocates, about their efforts to improve prison conditions. Ruiz is one of many writ writers, self-educated prison lawyers, who have sought to defend the rights of prisoners. In the early 1970s, Ruiz filed several suits against the Texas Department of Corrections (TDC) for excessive brutality and neglect, and Ruiz discusses some of the conditions he encountered while in prison. The Sullivans, who founded Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants, explain that one of the reasons why Texas has the lowest cost per inmate is because they use prisoners to police each other and to work in the infirmary. In fact, inmate/guards (or Building Tenders) have access to weapons and can often act with impunity, punishing inmates the guards have deemed troublesome. The TDC boasts that its prisons are largely self-sufficient: inmates grow their own food and produce their own clothing. However, Ruiz explains that inmates work without pay and often in hazardous conditions. Moreover, he argues, such programs do not prepare inmates for life outside of prisons.
The Sullivans then discuss Ruiz’ role in the law suit and explain that he has pursued the case at a great cost to himself. In 1981, Judge William Wayne Justice of Tyler, Texas found that Texas prison conditions were unconstitutional and ordered the TDC to make several major changes.
Both Ruiz and Pauline argue that there is a connection between unemployment and crime, and they demand that society address the roots of crime and the ways in which it rehabilitates criminals.
KEYWORDS
8th AmendmentAttorney General
Building Tenders
Charles Sullivan
Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE)
Civil Rights Movement
Constitution
David Ruiz
Exploitation
Frances Jalet Cruz
Health Care
Norman O. Carlson
Pauline Sullivan
Police Brutality
Prison Guards
Prison Labor
Prison Lawyers
Prisoners
Rosa Linda Fregoso
Ruiz Vs. Estelle
Social Movements
Solitary Confinement
Supreme Court
Texas Department of Corrections
Texas Prisons
Tyler, Texas
William Bennett Turner
William Wayne Justice
Writ Writers