FED OVERSIGHT OF TX JAILS SCALED BACK

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- A judge scaled back federal oversight of the Texas
prison system, but said unconstitutional practices remain a problem when it
comes to inmate safety, officers' use of force and the segregation of
certain inmates.

U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice terminated federal supervision
Monday of several areas of the state's prison system, including staffing,
support services, discipline, access to courts, crowding, health services
and death row.

Justice ruled that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice had "vastly
improved the system that at one point was incapable of description -- the
conditions so pernicious and the inmates' pain and degradation so extensive."

Under the judge's ruling, federal oversight would continue in the areas of
inmate safety, the segregation of inmates from other prisoners, and use of
force. In those areas, he said, inmates "remain victims of an
unconstitutional system."

The federal government was granted oversight of the prison system as part
of a lawsuit filed against the department of criminal justice in 1972. In
that suit, inmate David Ruiz claimed conditions were so brutal and crowded
they amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. Justice agreed in a 1981 ruling.

Texas spent billions of dollars on new prisons and improvements after the
ruling, and most federal controls were lifted in a 1992 settlement. But the
judge retained oversight.

In March, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had given Justice 90 days
to decide whether Texas has improved its state prisons enough to be free of
his oversight. The appeals court said Justice needed to specify any
problems he found in the prisons and determine how they violated his orders.

In Monday's ruling, Justice ordered the two sides in the lawsuit to reach
an agreement within 90 days on measures to resolve the three remaining issues.

"The court is giving Texas prison officials the first opportunity to decide
how the remaining constitutional violations will be ended," attorneys Donna
Brorby and Gail Saliterman, who represented inmates in the case, said in a
statement.

The attorneys said the court is insisting that Texas prison officials
protect prisoners from violence and treat mentally ill inmates instead of
simply segregating them from other prisoners.

Texas Attorney General John Cornyn said the ruling puts Texas one step
closer to freedom from federal oversight of the prison system.

"However, I disagree with Judge Justice's finding that certain aspects of
our prison system require continued federal intervention," Cornyn added.

Cornyn said he will appeal part of the ruling to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals in New Orleans.