Gov't Supervision Sought at Prisons By JIM VERTUNO .c The Associated Press AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Federal oversight of Texas prisons should be preserved so long as they remain brutal places where inmates are preyed upon by other prisoners and guards afford little protection, lawyers for the inmates told a federal judge. Closing arguments were made Friday at the end of a three-week hearing to determine whether Texas will reclaim complete control over its prison system or if some federal oversight will be maintained. Inmates appeared during the hearing and testified about sexual and physical abuses that were treated with indifference by prison guards. ``The easily forgotten aspect here is that prisoners are human beings. At some minimal level ... the constitution requires us to respect the rights of prisoners,'' said Donna Brorby, a lawyer for the inmates. ``The bottom line is prisoners are not safe on the cell block.'' Those inmates should not lose their federal watchdog, she said. Attorneys for the state acknowledged that some inmates were victimized. But they argued Texas prisons have improved vastly in the two decades since a federal judge declared the system to be an unconstitutional mess. ``The individual cases are sad, but the state has done what it can to minimize those. No state or prison has been able to wipe it out,'' said Solicitor General Greg Coleman. ``We have arrived at the point where it's time for our prison system to stand on its own two feet.'' In 1980, the federal judge ordered a host of reforms after trial of a class- action lawsuit exposed horrible overcrowding and inmate abuse throughout the system. Supervision of prisons was kept by the federal courts until 1992 when the courts gave back to the state most of the day-to-day controls. The federal courts left in place several orders dealing with prisoner abuse and the provision of adequate medical care. Coleman said the need for those lingering controls has passed, and he pledged that state would not revert to its old ways. ``Whatever constitutional problems that once existed, they are but a memory,'' he said. ``This is a matter of state sovereignty and state pride. We are not looking to terminate the improvements and go backward.'' U.S. District Judge William Wayne Justice -- the very same judge who originally declared the system to be unconstitutional -- has until March 1 to make a ruling.
