In 1993, plaintiffs in Cameron County Jail brought a section 1983 class action suit against the county alleging that the overcrowded conditions in the jail amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. The district court for the Southern District of Texas (Judge John William Black) certified plaintiffs' class and allowed the county to implead the State of Texas as a third-party defendant because the state failed to transfer ""paper ready"" inmates to state correctional facilities. In 1994, the court entered an injunction requiring the state to remove state-ready felons from the county jail and requiring the county to implement a plan to reduce population levels and submit progress reports to the court. The court subsequently amended the injunction to ensure further population reduction at the jail. In 1999, the court dismissed the state as a party pursuant to the 1996 Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) but denied the state's motion to terminate the 1994 injunction. The state appealed, and the Fifth Circuit vacated the district court's 1999 order and remanded the case for further proceedings to ensure compliance with PLRA. Castillo v. Cameron Co., 238 F.3d 339 (5th Cir. 2001). According to the docket from PACER, Cameron County won a motion for summary judgment in 2002, and the court closed the case. We have several documents from this case from PACER, including the complaint, amended complaint, third-party complaint, orders, final judgment, and releases of all claims. More documents are available via PACER.

Lauren Cutson - 05/26/2005


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