Texas Inmates’ Covid-19 Class Suit Wins Them New Safety Measures

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice must implement additional policies to prevent the spread of Covid-19 at a prison for older and less healthy inmates, after a federal judge found their constitutional rights had been violated.

The department demonstrated a deliberate indifference to the medical needs of a certified class of inmates by recklessly disregarding obvious and known risks to their health and safety.

It also failed to implement a systematic approach to slow the spread of the virus within the prison, Judge Kieth P. Ellison wrote Tuesday for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

That ...