Decades after the U.S. Supreme Court and certain governmental actions struck down racial segregation in the larger society, American prison administrators still boldly adhered to discriminatory practices. Not until 1975 did legislation prohibit racial segregation and discrimination in Texas prisons. However, vestiges of this practice endured behind prison walls. Charting the transformation from segregation to desegregation in Texas prisons—which resulted in Texas prisons becoming one of the most desegregated places in America—First Available Cell chronicles the pivotal steps in the process, including prison director George J. Beto's 1965 decision to allow inmates of different races to co-exist in the same prison setting, defying Southern norms.
The authors also clarify the significant impetus for change that emerged in 1972, when a Texas inmate filed a lawsuit alleging racial segregation and discrimination in the Texas Department of Corrections. Perhaps surprisingly, a multiracial group of prisoners sided with the TDC, fearing that desegregated housing would unleash racial violence. Members of the security staff also feared and predicted severe racial violence. Nearly two decades after the 1972 lawsuit, one vestige of segregation remained in place: the double cell. Revealing the aftermath of racial desegregation within that 9 x 5 foot space, First Available Cell tells the story of one of the greatest social experiments with racial desegregation in American history.

First Available Cell: Desegregation of the Texas Prison System

History

Marquart, James W.

Trulson, Chad R.

Americas

University of Texas Press

How does a prison achieve institutional order while safeguarding prisoners' rights? Since the early 1960s, prison reform advocates have aggressively used the courts to extend rights and improve life for inmates, while prison administrators have been slow to alter the status quo. Litigated reform has been the most significant force in obtaining change. An Appeal to Justice is a critical tudy of how the Texas Department of Corrections was transformed by Ruiz v. Estelle, the most sweeping class-action suit in correctional law history. Orders from federal judge William W. Justice rapidly moved the Texas system from one of the most autonomous, isolated, and paternalistic system to a more constitutional bureaucracy. In many respects the Texas experience is a microcosm of the transformation of American corrections over the past twenty-five years. This is a careful account of TDC's fearful past as a plantation system, its tumultuous litigated reform, and its subsequent efforts to balance prisoner rights and prison order. Of major importance is the detailed examination of the broad stages of the reform process (and its costs and benefits) and an intimate look at prison brutality and humanity. The authors examine the terror tactics of the inmate guards, the development of prisoner gangs and widespread violence during the reforms, and the stability that eventually emerged. They also detail the change of the guard force from a relatively small, cohesive cadre dependent on discretion, personal loyalty, and physical dominance to a larger and more fragmented security staff controlled by formal procedures. Drawing on years of research in archival sources and on hundreds of interviews with prisoners, administrators, and staff, An Appeal to Justice is a unique basis for assessing the course and consequences of prison litigation and will be valuable reading for legislators, lawyers, judges, prison administrators, and concerned citizens, as well as prison and public policy scholars.

An Appeal to Justice: Litigated Reform of Texas Prisons

Crouch, Ben M.

Demonstrates how slavery and lynching led to the institutionalized and public approval of executions, tracing their history in Texas from 1819 to 1990

The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990

Sorensen, Jonathan R.

Ekland-Olson, Sheldon

Criminal Law

Univ of Texas Pr

In late summer 1923, legal hangings in Texas came to an end, and the electric chair replaced the gallows. Of 520 convicted capital offenders sentenced to die between 1923 and 1972, 361 were actually executed, thus maintaining Texas’ traditional reputation as a staunch supporter of capital punishment.
This book is the single most comprehensive examination to date of capital punishment in any one state, drawing on data for legal executions from 1819 to 1990. The authors show persuasively how slavery and the racially biased practice of lynching in Texas led to the institutionalization and public approval of executions skewed according to race, class, and gender, and they also track long-term changes in public opinion up to the present.
The stories of the condemned are masterfully interwoven with fact and interpretation to provide compelling reading for scholars of law, criminal justice, race relations, history, and sociology, as well as partisans on both sides of the debate.

The Rope, The Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990

Enjoy sightseeing and shopping in bustling Edinburgh and Glasgow or explore unspoiled scenery and welcoming towns in the Hebridean Islands, Southern Scotland, Tayside, and the Northeast. Go from the Highlands to the Lowlands. Hike, canoe, or just relax at Loch Lomand. This friendly guide gives you the scoop on: 
<ul>
<li>Edinburgh Old Town, with its intriguing winding alleyways</li> <li>Accommodations that range from sumptuous 17th century hotel furnished with Gothic antiques to a secluded seaside escape, and from a 17th century laird’s house to a sleek, modern and minimalist hotel</li> <li>Enjoying a pint of lager in a rustic pub where the barmen wear kilts and you don’t tip or touring distinctive distilleries</li> <li>Cathedrals, castles and historic sites like the Calanais Standing Stones (the "Scottish Stonehenge"), Edinburgh Castle that holds the historic Stone of Destiny and Scotland’s crown jewels, Doune Castle, made famous by the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and Glasgow Cathedral</li> <li>Storied golf courses such as Muirfield, Royal Troon, and St. Andrews in the country credited with developing the sport</li> <li>Touring Sir Walter Scott’s mansion, Abbotsford, with it’s incredible library, relics, and mementos, or paying homage to poet Robert Burns at numerous sites</li> <li>Shopping for everything from fine wool knits to Caithness glass paper weights to Edinburgh Crystal to tartans and kilts to Highland Stoneware</li> </ul>
Like every For Dummies travel guide, Scotland For Dummies, 5th Edition includes: <ul>
<li>Down-to-earth trip-planning advice</li> <li>What you shouldn’t miss — and what you can skip</li> <li>The best hotels and restaurants for every budget</li> </ul>
Whether you’re looking for fun nightlife or the legendary Loch Ness monster…whether you want to explore art galleries and museums or walk craggy seacoasts, this guide gives you the flavor of Scotland so enchantingly you can almost hear the bagpipes.

It was a warm, still, July summer night in 2014, when an 85-year-old woman, a beloved grandmother and neighbor, was viciously murdered by someone who slipped quietly into her bedroom and slit her throat and watched her bleed to death in less than a minute.\nWho committed this awful murder, how, and why? The perpetrator of this horrible crime was the woman's own grandson, an adored and trusted family member. He was married and also had four children of his own. James W. Marquart walks us through the investigation involving the collection of evidence in Texas and in Illinois, the arrest, trial, conviction, and the punishment of the killer who committed this crime for money and pure lust. Punch your ticket to a front row seat and see how murder cases unfold and murderers are caught and punished.\nIn Unthinkable: Who Kills Their Grandmother? by James W. Marquart we experience a gripping account on why the murder occurred and how this crime by a family member has impacted the lives of other close family members. In a weird twist of fate, the author continues to live in the house that belonged to the killer.

Unthinkable: Who Kills Their Grandmother?

Biographies & Memoirs

True Crime

Atmosphere Press

Dear Reader: Reality comes when an exact moment coincides with acceptance of a certain event. Reality came for me on September 12, 1995, when McKay, my only child, was abducted and murdered by an adult family friend named Hilton Crawford. McKay loved and trusted Hilton. Hilton betrayed that love and trust. All that is left of McKay are memories, The McKay Foundation, a few personal belongings, a gravesite and some ashes. Our mission has been to leave something more: lessons learned and hopefully wisdom gained. Sincerely, Paulette Norman

Deadly Betrayal: The Kidnapping and Murder of McKay Everett (Huntsville History)

Everett-Norman, Paulette

Mullings, Janet

Parenting & Relationships

Texas Review Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Marquart, James W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Marquart, James W.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Marquart, James W.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

First Available Cell: Desegregation of the Texas Prison System

An Appeal to Justice: Litigated Reform of Texas Prisons

First Available Cell: Desegregation of the Texas Prison System

The Rope, the Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990

The Rope, The Chair, and the Needle: Capital Punishment in Texas, 1923-1990

First Available Cell: Desegregation of the Texas Prison System

Unthinkable: Who Kills Their Grandmother?

Deadly Betrayal: The Kidnapping and Murder of McKay Everett (Huntsville History)