U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson visits McGeorge School of Law last week, where he meets law students, including Robert Rice and Nancy Haley, below, and a documentary on his career was screened.
Posted on 09/25/2006 7:43:40 AM PDT by SmithL
Over the past decade and a half, U.S. District Court Judge Thelton Henderson has become the one of the most important figures in the state in setting prison policy, or at least trying to change it.
Henderson's rulings have placed the judge firmly in control over issues ranging from use of force at Pelican Bay State Prison to internal discipline to improving medical care. They've also put him in position to direct billions in state spending into the correctional system -- with no legislative oversight.
The 72-year-old judge's career has just been chronicled in Abby Ginzberg's documentary, "Soul of Justice: Thelton Henderson's American Journey." He spoke with Bee reporter Andy Furillo on Thursday night at McGeorge School of Law after a showing of the film, in which he said he felt frustrated early in his career as a Department of Justice lawyer, where his neutral position kept him from "hurtling your body" into the civil rights fray.
Q: In regards to prison, are you "hurtling your body" now into the prison system in a way you couldn't in Birmingham (Ala.)?
A: No, and I don't think I had regrets that I couldn't. ... Part of the conflict is when I saw people like Martin Luther King, I would talk to them, and I'm convinced he knew he was not going to see the end of that, that he was going to be assassinated. The bravery there, I saw young kids come from the rural parts of Jackson or Birmingham with their toothbrush or facecloth, getting ready to get arrested and get brutalized. And here I was, pulling out my ID and would get out of jail once I identified (myself). And I was conflicted. Did I have the stuff?
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
One judge that never let the Constitution get in the way of his personal agenda.
For at least 30 years in Texas one Judge had control of the prisons and another the schools to assure they conformed to the civil rights laws, in the judges' opinions. Barefoot Sanders was one but the other's name is hiding just out of my mental grasp.
Aha, the other was William Wayne Justice.
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