Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 18, 2006 4:29:21 GMT -5
By Phillip Yates, The Amarillo Globe-News
Trying to find the best prison for a police officer headed to the Texas Department of Corrections is one thing.
Imagine trying to find one for a district attorney who might have prosecuted the guy in the next cell.
Rick Roach, former district attorney for five north Panhandle counties, was sentenced to 18 years last month on state drug possession charges. He unexpectedly pleaded guilty after a judge denied his motion to remove a special prosecutor.
Roach, 57, will be one of very few and perhaps the only former district attorney to find a home in the Texas prison system.
Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the prison system, said the agency does not have special units for former district attorneys, police officers or other law enforcement officials. That means Roach likely could be sent to any prison in the state. Prison officials put inmates through a rigorous classification process to determine which unit to send them to. Education, employment history and medical condition are taken into account.
"If he is an officer of the court," Lyons said, "chances are he is going to be next to people he might have prosecuted, so we will take that into consideration in placing him in a unit. If it were determined that his personal safety would be at risk, we would act accordingly and put him in some sort of a more secure environment."
Lyons said most units can handle all sorts of inmates, from those who are confined to their cells for 23 hours a day to inmates whose movements are far less restricted.
That means most of the 105 Texas prison units could accommodate Roach, Lyons said.
A Gray County grand jury indicted Roach in May 2005 on two state counts of possession with intent to deliver cocaine and methamphetamine. The state agreed to drop the cocaine charge as part of a plea.
source : The Amarillo Globe-News
www.amarillo.com/stories/071606/new_5113203.shtml
Trying to find the best prison for a police officer headed to the Texas Department of Corrections is one thing.
Imagine trying to find one for a district attorney who might have prosecuted the guy in the next cell.
Rick Roach, former district attorney for five north Panhandle counties, was sentenced to 18 years last month on state drug possession charges. He unexpectedly pleaded guilty after a judge denied his motion to remove a special prosecutor.
Roach, 57, will be one of very few and perhaps the only former district attorney to find a home in the Texas prison system.
Michelle Lyons, a spokeswoman for the prison system, said the agency does not have special units for former district attorneys, police officers or other law enforcement officials. That means Roach likely could be sent to any prison in the state. Prison officials put inmates through a rigorous classification process to determine which unit to send them to. Education, employment history and medical condition are taken into account.
"If he is an officer of the court," Lyons said, "chances are he is going to be next to people he might have prosecuted, so we will take that into consideration in placing him in a unit. If it were determined that his personal safety would be at risk, we would act accordingly and put him in some sort of a more secure environment."
Lyons said most units can handle all sorts of inmates, from those who are confined to their cells for 23 hours a day to inmates whose movements are far less restricted.
That means most of the 105 Texas prison units could accommodate Roach, Lyons said.
A Gray County grand jury indicted Roach in May 2005 on two state counts of possession with intent to deliver cocaine and methamphetamine. The state agreed to drop the cocaine charge as part of a plea.
source : The Amarillo Globe-News
www.amarillo.com/stories/071606/new_5113203.shtml