SETTLEMENT PROPOSED IN PRISON ABUSE CASE

Missouri offers $2.2 million to Texas inmates

KANSAS CITY, Mo.- The state of Missouri on Friday proposed a
$2.2 million settlement for prisoners abused in Texas jails in a deal
that would include no money from state taxpayers.

The offer, filed in Kansas City federal court by Attorney General Jay
Nixon's office, would dispose of 32 lawsuits filed in state and
federal courts by more than 700 inmates.

If approved by U.S. District Judge Nanette Laughrey, payouts to the
inmates and their lawyers would come solely from the Texas defendants
in the case. Though it could be several weeks before Laughrey approves
the settlement, lawyers on both sides agreed Friday to stop taking
depositions.

Lawyers estimated it could take six months to nine months before
inmates collect any money.

A training video made in September 1996 showed a jail shakedown in
which inmates were attacked by guard dogs and shocked with stun guns.
The video showed an inmate with a broken ankle who was zapped with a
stun gun when he slowed down.

Some of the worst abuses occurred at a Brazoria County, Texas, jail,
part of which was leased by private prison company Capital
Correctional Resources Inc. under a cell-lease pact with Texas
because Missouri's prisons were full.

All of the inmates have since been moved back to Missouri.

Capital Correctional Resources and Brazoria County, which had been
named as defendants, have agreed to the settlement but have denied
wrongdoing.

Prisoners who aren't satisfied with the settlement offer would have no
recourse. If the judge accepts it as a class- action lawsuit, no
prisoner would be able to opt out and pursue his own case.

The Federal Prison Litigation Reform Act also says that inmates
without physical injury can't recover anything but a nominal amount in
inmate civil rights lawsuits.

Inmates' lawyers say the deal, if approved, would be the nation's
largest prison abuse settlement.

By one calculation, a prisoner who can document his injuries might get
$20,000.

But plaintiffs' lawyers cautioned Friday that no one knows how much
money each inmate might receive because the award would likely be
based on the extent of physical injuries.

One lawyer said there could be as many as 2,100 potential plaintiffs,
which would dilute individual awards.

Six clusters of lawyers will split the $900,000 to $1 million in legal
fees. A typical firm could get $150,000 minus expenses. Some lawyers
estimated they had worked 1,000 hours on the case.

That would leave about $1.2 million to be distributed among the
prisoners who might seek a claim in the settlement. The settlement
tentatively would cover Missouri inmates who served their time in
Texas between January 1995 and December 1997, Carlson said.

Some inmates fear their cut of the settlement won't be enough, but
lawyers say they stand to lose either way.

"When we pay expenses, we won't have a whole lot left over," said
Craig Heidemann, a Bolivar, Mo., attorney who represents 100
prisoners. "A lot of lawyers have worked at personal expense to get
this settlement."

The prisoners had claimed that Missouri officials knew about the abuse
and did not investigate their complaints fully.

Plaintiffs' lawyers played down the settlement's financial terms and
said their real victory came with Missouri's promise, as part of the
settlement, that it would not send inmates back to those jails where
abuses occurred.

Federal criminal cases stemming from the nationally publicized attack
are pending against four sheriff's deputies and CCRI jailers indicted
for their alleged roles.