Ruiz v. Estelle

Its prison system was running out of room, a crisis that had been building for years.

In 1980, federal district judge William Wayne Justice issued a sweeping ruling in Ruiz v. Estelle, finding that conditions inside the Texas Department of Corrections violated the Constitution.

Overcrowding was central to the case.

Texas prisons had become so packed that some inmates were sleeping on floors, cells and dormitories were holding far more prisoners than they had been designed to accommodate, and the population was only increasing.