William Wayne Justice

Dead

Born: 2/25/1920 in Athens, Texas, USA
Died: 10/13/2009
Age: 89
Cause of death: not reported

Noted For: U.S. federal judge in Texas; appointed by President Johnson (1968). Directed an overhaul of the Texas prison system through a series of rulings in the 1980's and 1990's that began with the Ruiz v. Estelle lawsuit in 1972. Imposed strict prison population caps that forced Texas to release violent prisoners after serving only a small fraction of their sentences.