WITNESS
Steve J. Martin is in private practice as a corrections consultant and is actively involved in prison litigation in New York, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Maryland, Utah, and Puerto Rico. He is involved in jail litigation in New York City, Ft. Lauderdale, and Gulfport, Mississippi. He is serving as expert to the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, in both prison and jail cases in Georgia, Mississippi, Maryland, Guam, and Saipan. He has worked as a consultant in more than 30 states and has visited or inspected more than 500 confinement facilities in the U.S. He has served or currently serves as a federal court monitor in three prison systems and four large metropolitan jail systems. He has been involved in class action litigation involving staff use of force in Texas, California, New York, Puerto Rico, Wyoming, Montana, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia, and Florida.
During his 32 years in the criminal justice field, he has worked as a prison guard, probation and parole officer, and prosecutor. He is the former General Counsel of the Texas prison system as well as having served gubernatorial appointments in Texas on both a sentencing commission and a council for mentally impaired offenders. He co-authored the book Texas Prisons: The Walls Came Tumbling Down and has written numerous articles on criminal justice issues. He has served as an adjunct faculty member at six different universities including the University of Texas School of Law. He received his B.S. and M.A. in Correctional Administration from Sam Houston State University and his JD from the University of Tulsa School of Law.
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STATEMENT
"As we are now fully ensconced in the age of the 'super max prison' where 'super predators' are confined in a 'no frills' environment after they have had 'three strikes,' use of force appears to be more easily sanctioned and justified than it otherwise would be. However, the basic rule of law that governs the use of excessive or unnecessary force in prisons and jails is no less applicable to the 'worst of the worst' than any other confined person. Moreover, while the courts should remain reluctant to superintend the day-to-day operation of corrections facilities, they must also remain steadfast in their refusal to embrace the logic that allows corrections professionals to modify the rule of law governing use of force in such a way that it can be used to punish prisoners rather than control them. As so eloquently suggested by the prisoners' attorney in her opening statement in Madrid, 'we, the people, are [not] free to act lawlessly because the people that we brutalize themselves have violated the law.'"
Excerpted from a written statement submitted to the Commission
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Note: Some witnesses submitted documents in addition to the written statement they prepared for the hearing. In most cases, those documents are not available on the Commission's web site.
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