Court Says Texas Inmate Swinging A Hoe Doesn't Deserve Pay
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HUNTSVILLE (AP) — A federal appeals court says the civil rights of a 37-year-old convicted sex offender aren't violated because he gets no pay for cultivating fields at a Texas prison.
Inmate Kyle Farrar filed a federal civil rights lawsuit arguing it's wrong he's not getting paid and inhumane for a corrections officer to dictate the pace of his four-prisoner digging squad and how high and hard they must swing hoes they use in a practice called "four stepping."
Farrar is serving 24 years for aggravated sexual assault in Williamson County.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, affirming a lower court's dismissal, ruled Friday Farrar has no constitutional right to compensation and says his lawsuit fails to show how the hoe work is beyond his strength and a danger to his life.
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