Brown filed the lawsuit with Rep. John Culberson, who is now a Republican U.S. representative from Houston. Justice does not comment on matters pending in his court. The chief lawyer appointed to represent Texas inmates in matters related to the original Ruiz lawsuit called the declarations of victory premature. As I read the 5th Circuit's order, what I see is that the panel sent the case back to Judge Justice to determine the appropriate cure for the constitutional violations. Over the past decade, Texas has tripled the size of its prison system, bringing its capacity to about 150,000.
Units now have gymnasium space, libraries and medical facilities.
Texas Attorney General John Cornyn, who joined the legal fight after he took office in 1999, also hailed the 5th Circuit's ruling. It should be gratifying to all Texans that control and accountability over our prison system is now very close to being in the hands of Texans once again. Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Glen Castlebury said officials with the agency will not comment while the case remains in the courts. It would be inappropriate for us to comment further in light of the fact our position has been made well known to the courts by the attorney general.