Texas

How Texas’s bankruptcy courts are used to shield a prison healthcare provider

Published

10 months ago

March 4, 2025

How Texas’s bankruptcy courts are used to shield a prison healthcare provider

When late last year the largest provider of healthcare to inmates in jails and prisons in the US found itself facing an avalanche of medical malpractice lawsuits, its path forward was seemingly obvious.

By filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas’s increasingly popular bankruptcy courts, Wellpath Holdings could restructure itself, in the process staying the 1,500 lawsuits it had been facing and limiting its exposure to more than $100m in potential liabilities.

Last month, a bankruptcy judge for the southern district of Texas in Houston extended those stays to give Wellpath additional time to propose how it might exit bankruptcy and continue operating.

But critics say that the move is a cynical attempt to avoid paying out to the families of people devastated by the company’s actions in a state increasingly seen as a safe haven for big corporations looking to avoid paying out to people and families their actions have harmed.

Among the cases stayed for Wellpath was one brought by Teesha Graham of Albuquerque. Her father Frankie died in 2022 after spending almost a week slumped in his San Juan county jail cell, covered in vomit and excrement as medical staff and prison guards refused his requests for help, an inmate in the jail told the Guardian.

Also stayed was a claim brought by Nicole Poppell of Colorado Springs. Her daughter Savannah died aged 24 just three days after she was booked into El Paso county jail in Colorado. Incessant vomiting caused by opiate withdrawal tore her esophagus and she bled to death in her cell.

“Now they’re filing bankruptcy the chances are I could get next to nothing but really I don’t even give a shit about the money,” said Nicole. “I just want to be heard.”

Poppell and Graham are just two grieving family members wanting the bankruptcy court to consider their claims against Wellpath because as “unsecured creditors”, but they’re at the bottom of the hierarchy when it comes to who gets paid from the limited funds that remain.

Last week they enjoyed a small victory as Wellpath dropped its request that the court approve some $5m in bonuses for 12 of its executives. “I’ll never understand it,” said Graham.

Attorneys representing claimants against Wellpath say its bankruptcy was a long time coming, and part of a cynical strategy that would see it minimize costs low with reduced staff and improper insurance coverage. Malpractice lawsuits would inevitably accumulate but using the Texas courts it could largely shed itself of those liabilities and exit from it all relatively unscathed.

“These companies keep their costs as low as possible and then rely on the bankruptcy courts in Houston to bail them out once they hit a critical mass of lawsuits,” said Adam Flores, a New Mexico attorney representing Graham.

Wellpath is a for-profit business headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, and owned by private equity firm HIG Capital. It operates in jails and prisons across almost 40 states and is responsible for the care of hundreds of thousands of inmates.

Although bankruptcy is governed by federal code, jurisdictions will enforce it with varying lenience, and typically if a company has enough assets in a given state they can make use its courts.

In recent years, the southern district of Texas has become a go-to bankruptcy venue, displacing the southern district of New York as the second most popular in the country behind Delaware.

“The Southern District of Texas really blew up four or five years ago,” said RJ Shannon, a bankruptcy attorney in Houston who is representing almost 100 claimants in the Wellpath case. “It’s a debtor-friendly court, so it’s where all the big cases will be filed.”

Last year, the southern district of Texas saw some 31 filings for bankruptcy by companies with assets greater than $100m, whereas the southern district of New York saw just 11, according to figures from Bankruptcy Data.

Wellpath’s filing in November made it the second prison contractor to have used the court’s Houston division in just two years after prison healthcare firm Corizon filed for Chapter 11 in early 2023. The maneuver it attempted has been referred to as “the Texas Two-Step” and sees a company split itself into two, placing valuable assets in one and its liabilities in the other.

Although Wellpath is pursuing a simpler and more traditional Chapter 11 restructuring, its critics say the move is intended to have precisely the same effect.

“I think the reason Wellpath filed here [in Texas] is that they saw Corizon do it and they saw good things came of it,” said Shannon. He said that not only is the Houston court friendly to debtors, it’s also “user-friendly”, meaning proceedings can take place fast.

Anna Holland Edwards, a civil rights attorney in Denver who has brought a handful of cases against Wellpath over her career, said she saw its bankruptcy coming from a mile away. In early November her office asked a state court to issue sanctions on the company ahead of its expected bankruptcy.

Holland Edwards and other critics of Wellpath paint its use of Chapter 11 as a “business model” – both inevitable and symptomatic of the increasing extent to which America’s corporate assets have come under the ownership of private equity funds.

They argue that Wellpath, under private equity ownership, borrowed money to buy up regional facilities across the country and then underbid rivals and county services in order to win taxpayer-funded government contracts. Underbidding meant cost-cutting.

“If they don’t have enough money, maybe instead of having 10 nurses working in jail they’d only get five,” said Shannon.

According to Graham, it was a lack of staff in San Juan county jail that led to her father’s death: “They feel like they can send two people in there to care for over 500 humans?”

Another cost-cutting measure that may have brought Wellpath to its knees was its purchase of liability insurance policies that appeared to meet state and local government requirements but failed to establish any “true risk transfer”. As revealed in the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, these policies only pay out if Wellpath covers a share of the damages, otherwise, no insurance kicks in.

And so tight were Wellpath’s purse strings that at the time of its bankruptcy it had left around 15 EMS providers in Michigan with more than $6m worth of unpaid bills, according to the Michigan Association of Ambulance Services.

Where the chips will now land remains uncertain, according to Shannon. As it stands, the ball is in Wellpath’s court, as prepares to issue a revised plan for how it will restructure and emerge out of Chapter 11 operational.

A recent ruling by bankruptcy Judge Alfredo R Perez of the southern district of Texas extended the stay on the pending lawsuits until at least 30 April.

In the meantime, unsecured creditors will fight to have as much money as possible set aside for their settlements. In many cases, especially those involving personal injury, once the stays are lifted plaintiffs’ right to seek damages will be restored, but the pool of funds from which to collect will be limited.

For Wellpath, the plan after Chapter 11 is to continue business as usual, and with Trump in office, there has never been a better climate in which for it to emerge from bankruptcy, according to Andy McNulty, another civil rights attorney based in Colorado.

“We saw when Donald Trump was elected that private prison company stocks soared to all-time highs so there’s no reason to believe that if Wellpath is allowed to continue operating it will not continue to profit off the suffering of inmates across the country,” he said.

A spokesperson for Wellpath said in a statement to the Guardian that it had filed for Chapter 11 in order to “strengthen our financial foundation without compromising our ability to deliver high-quality patient care”.

“We remain committed to providing vital healthcare services to underserved populations and are confident this process will allow us to continue to do so for years to come,” they added.

The company declined to say why it chose to file in the southern district of Texas or to answer questions about its liability insurance.

Savannah’s mother Nicole said she wants to see Wellpath dissolved for good. “For three days she was in there and she was begging for help, she was crying for help, and she was alone,” she said. “I want these people shut down.”

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Texas

Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire pitches his solutions for college football’s calendar

Published

2 hours ago

December 18, 2025

Press Room

Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire pitches his solutions for college football’s calendar

Joey McGuire has worn many hats over his career through the high school and college coaching ranks, but he’s looking to add a new one: Commissioner of fixing the college football calendar.

The fourth-year head coach jokingly offered his name up for the self-imposed fake title Wednesday during a media availability, but his frustration with the current format is real. He believes every team should play Week 0, that a champion should be crowned by Jan. 1 and bowl games should be invitationals set for Week 1.

McGuire’s team had a historic season, winning a Big 12 title and earning a bye in the College Football Playoff. Its reward is 26 days of non-compete before playing in the Capital One Orange Bowl on Jan. 1. McGuire loves it for player health. He hates it because it makes football a two-semester sport.

“Texas high school playoffs are playing 16 games, and they’re crowning a state champion this weekend. FCS has 24 teams in their playoff and they’re crowning a national champion on January 5,” McGuire said. “People are so stuck on traditions and all that. I get that, man. I’m a traditionalist 100%. But guess what? It’s changed.”

By finishing the season on Jan. 1, teams would be able to seamlessly transition into the transfer portal, which opens on Jan. 2, he said. This doesn’t eliminate the unpredictable coaching changes that can happen at programs competing in the playoff, but McGuire argues that unfavorable personnel changing is inevitable regardless of calendar shifts.

Many programs with general managers can handle the current overlap of playoffs and the portal window. Some programs’ philosophies, such as Texas Tech’s, separate the responsibilities while in season. McGuire’s job in recruiting extends only as far as daily texts at this stage in the season, while general manager James Blanchard is working 20-plus-hour days on recruiting trails.

However, only 12 teams are playing for a national championship in December. The rest of the country is either finished with its season or competing in bowl games with a withered staff and roster due to opt-outs and the rapid coaching carousel.

McGuire has his solution ready for that problem.

“How about moving the bowl games to an invitation? And that would be week one, Aug. 23, and we’re playing bowl games Thursday, Friday, Saturday,” McGuire said. “ … You’re going to lose a home game, but you still would have a huge attraction TV-wise. It would be a big watch because you know everybody’s dying for college football week one.”

As McGuire stated, the invitational bowl game would erase a home game for teams. But McGuire wouldn’t be a successful commissioner if he didn’t have a solution to ensure teams could fill out their schedules as they pleased.

“We’ve got these kids all summer long. Camp doesn’t need to be a month long,” McGuire said. “We can play zero week, and you know rock and roll.”

Unfortunately for the hopeful-minded “commissioner,” changes in the college football calendar start with the networks, which he does not work with. However, McGuire said he will speak on the subject whenever given the chance because the conversation starts with him and other college football coaches being outspoken in a time of change.

Find more Texas Tech coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.

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Texas

Texas A&M teases uniform against Miami in the first-round of the CFP

Published

14 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Texas A&M teases uniform against Miami in the first-round of the CFP

Texas A&M (11-1, 7-1 SEC) is three days away from hosting Miami (10-2) in the first round of the College Football Playoff on Saturday afternoon, as this will be the first appearance in the tournament for both programs, and by far the best game of the weekend outside of Alabama vs. Oklahoma on Friday night.

This week, Texas A&M’s media team teased the fan base and those of us in the media, changing the Texas A&M Football X page’s profile picture to a blacked-out Texas A&M emblem. Still, on Wednesday, the team released a video showing the CFP symbol printed on the standard Maroon jersey, which likely means the Aggies will go with their regular home look.

However, nothing is set in stone until the final uniform reveal, which will likely release on Thursday afternoon, so for those hoping for a blackout, which would be a first during an early afternoon kickoff, that scenario is still in play. Still, it won’t matter which uniform the Aggies play in, knowing that Miami will field a roster chock-full of NFL talent on both sides of the ball.

For Texas A&M to defend home field, starting quarterback Marcel Reed need to avoid turnovers and play with confidence in the pocket, knowing that Miami star defensive end Rueben Bain is looking to cause havoc in the backfield, meaning Reed will need to get the ball out of hands seconds after the snap, and rely on his elite wide receiver corps to make plays after the catch.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Cameron on X: @CameronOhnysty.

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All is calm at the Texas Capitol, at least at holiday ornament time

Published

1 day ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

All is calm at the Texas Capitol, at least at holiday ornament time

AUSTIN — In a state where political fights rarely take a holiday, one small tradition offers a respite, wrapped in gold, glitter and goodwill.

Hanging from the boughs of Christmas trees across Texas, annual ornaments featuring the Texas State Capitol capture the beauty of the season and the history of the state, without the bluster and bile that typically characterize life under the pink dome.

Rep. Rafael Anchía, D-Dallas, has one on his tree for each year he’s served in the Legislature, where he was first sworn in a few weeks after Christmas in January 2005. Each season, he buys roughly 30 more to give away, a tradition he says transcends party labels.

“They are amazing. It’s the ideal Christmas gift,” he said, making his best holiday sales pitch. “A surefire way to please constituents and mothers-in-laws across the political spectrum.”

Nelda Laney, wife of then-House Speaker Pete Laney, launched the ornament tradition in 1996 with designs created by the Texas State Preservation Board, the steward of the Capitol and other historic state buildings.

Now, the board’s retail team spends at least two-thirds of the year overseeing the annual design, according to the Texas Capitol Gift Shop website. The board runs three shops: one in the underground Capitol extension, one in the Bob Bullock Museum of Texas History and one in the Capitol Visitors’ Center on the south side of the grounds.

The 2025 Texas State Capitol Christmas ornament features a design that’s a throwback to the original design from 1996.

Texas State Capitol Gift Shop

Over the years, the team has produced dozens of iconic ornaments, made of metal or granite, in flat relief or 3D, some lit up, some mobile. The final designs range from shiny metal locomotives to intricately designed granite miniatures of the entire building.

The 2025 design — a view of the Capitol as seen from Congress Avenue in downtown Austin — is a throwback to the inaugural “First Edition” design in 1996, if modernized a bit.

The ornament shows the Capitol’s entire south face, decorated with holiday wreaths and Yaupon Holly swags wrapped around its columns, the board’s description says. The six flags that have flown over Texas appear on the south pediment, with both the Texas and U.S. flags flying above the entrance. The 1889 Great Walk, paved in a black-and-white checkerboard pattern, is flanked by a grand allée of trees, leading visitors inside.

Texas Capitol ornaments through the years

It’s one of dozens of designs that, over the years, have turned the Capitol ornament into a recognizable Lone Star collectible.

A wee statue of the Goddess of Liberty spinning inside golden rings covered in stars debuted in 2006. Three years later, it was black and gold, rectangular — the shape and feel of a tapestry — regarded as one of the more unique designs in the collection. Another from that era used a colorful disc depicting the six flags over Texas. The ornaments start at $25. The current design is fairly typical: Finished in 24-karat gold and 3.5 inches by 3.4 inches.

Older ornaments can be purchased in sets of miniatures. They are available online through the board. The money goes to the preservation board, a taxpayer-funded state agency that releases a new specialty Texas-themed ornament every year.

The ornament release has become a ritual for many, from Capitol employees to repeat customers who buy the ornament every year as gifts.

“A lot of people will come in and buy six because they give one to each family member every year,” said Lisa Gentry, shop manager. “Sometimes they buy the year of their child’s birth. There’s a lot who have a Texas tree, which is only the Texas ornaments that they’ve shopped for in our stores.”

Lawmakers as designers

Rep. Jessica González, D-Dallas, has the entire miniature collection and several annual ornaments from her four terms in office. Her favorite ornaments, she said, are the ones lawmakers design each Christmas to reflect their home districts. Those hang on the Texas House Christmas tree each season and aren’t for sale.

This year, she had two designed by Jesse Acosta and Alejandra Zendejas, co-founders of Pasos for Oak Cliff, a Dallas nonprofit that provides sneakers and other support services to underserved students.

“It’s a small but meaningful way to showcase the flavor of our community… a reminder that every district has its own voice,” González said.

On the consumer side, on a random Thursday two weeks before Christmas, the Capitol gift shop — next door to the building’s popular Capitol Grill — sold more than 300 of the shiny 2025 Texas Capitol keepsakes.

That one design. In one day. In just that one shop.

“People really love them,” Gentry said the following day, as more than 100 flew off her shelves before noon. “Today it’s been nonstop.”