Prison desegregation

Not until 1975 did legislation prohibit racial segregation and discrimination in Texas prisons. In First Available Cell: Desegregation of the Texas Prison System (University of Texas Press), Chad R. Trulson, associate professor of criminal justice, and James W. Marquart, associate provost and professor of criminology at the University of Texas at Dallas, trace the steps in the process of prison desegregation.

The authors describe the importance of a decision by Texas prison director George J. Beto to allow inmates of different races to co-exist in the same prison setting. They also examine the significance of an inmate’s 1972 lawsuit alleging racial segregation and discrimination in Texas prisons.

Trulson’s research on the aftermath of racial desegregation in the Texas prison system was used by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 2005 case involving the temporary racial segregation of new prisoners in California.

 

 

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