TEXAS INMATES TELL U.S. JUDGE OF ABUSES

AUSTIN, Texas -- For three weeks, doctors, corrections officials and
inmates have been describing to a federal judge the conditions in
Texas' vast network of prisons, and much of the testimony from the
prisoners has been a grim litany of abuses and humiliations.

One man described being locked in a cage for five days. Another
suffered a stroke, but his guards, failing to recognize it, simply
ridiculed his stumbling gait rather than immediately summoning medical
help. Yet another, driven to despair by abuse, tried to kill himself
by biting into his arm until he hit a vein. Prisoners told of being
raped by other inmates, beaten by guards, covered in pepper spray.

On the strength of such accounts, backed by the testimony of medical
and out-of-state corrections experts, lawyers for the prisoners of
Texas have argued in the proceeding that the federal court supervision
to which the state's prison system has been at least partly subject
since 1980 should continue.

The state, however, maintains that the experiences of abused inmates,
though regrettable, are little more than anecdotes that do not provide
a thorough picture of the prisons.

``It is time for our prison system to stand on its own two feet,''
Gregory Coleman, a lawyer for the state, said in closing arguments
Friday. ``We have come a long ways, thanks in large part to the
courts, but we believe we have now arrived. It is time for us to move
into the future on our own.''

During the hearing, state prison administrators testified to the
improvements made in the system in the last two decades, including
better training for guards, a more stringent policy on their use of
force and closer attention to prisoners' medical needs. Medical
experts testifying for the state argued that the prisoners' lawyers
had relied too heavily on the misfortunes of a handful of inmates
instead of looking at the system as a whole, which, with 73 prisons
and more than 140,000 prisoners, is second in size only to
California's.

The case has roots dating from 1979, when, after trial of a
class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of Texas prisoners, U.S. District
Judge William Wayne Justice ruled the prison system unconstitutional
because of horrific overcrowding, by guards and poor medical care.
The next year Justice demanded a raft of reforms and imposed
day-to-day oversight of the system by the federal courts.