This article traces and analyzes the history of prison- and jail-crowding litigation in the federal courts since the 1960s. While prisoners and pretrial detainees have won many victories, the doctrinal basis for a constitutional right to uncrowded incarceration facilities remains unclear and is still evolving. Despite several recent Supreme Court decisions unfavorable to inmates, there has been no rejection of the principles (1) that the totality of conditions in prison—including crowding—must not amount to cruel and unusual punishment and (2) that jail crowding cannot be permitted to impose genuine privations over an extended period of time. In order to enforce the decrees outlawing overcrowding, judges have had to search for creative enforcement techniques. Many of these techniques are controversial and their effectiveness is disputed. The courts have forced the other branches of government to face up to crowded prisons and jails, and they have helped to ameliorate the suffering and deprivations that the overcrowding crisis has caused.
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References
1.
1. This article focuses on cases dealing with claimed violations of the U.S. Constitution's Eighth Amendment prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment and the Fourteenth Amendment prohibition against deprivation of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
2.
2. Don Gottfredson, “Institutional Responses to Prison Crowding,”New York University Review of Law and Social Change, 12(1):260 (1984).
3.
3. Kenneth E. Kerle and Francis R. Ford, The State of Our Nation's Jails 1982 (Washington, DC: National Sheriff's Association, 1982).
4.
4. Ruiz v. Estelle, 503 F. Supp. 1265, 1391 (S.D. Tex. 1980), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 679 F.2d 1115 (5th Cir. 1982), cert. den., 103 Sup. Ct. 1438 (1983).
5.
5. Rhem v. Malcolm, 371 F. Supp. 594 (S.D.N.Y. 1974), 377 F. Supp. 995 (S.D.N.Y. 1974), aff'd, 507 F.2d 333 (2d Cir. 1974).
6.
6. Susan N. Herman, “Institutional Litigation in the Post-Chapman World,”New York University Review of Law and Social Change, 12(1):317 (1984).
7.
7. Ira P. Robbins, “Federal Courts and State Prison Reform,” in Prisoners' Rights Sourcebook, ed. Ira P. Robbins (New York: Clark Boardman, 1980), p. 126.
8.
8. Cruz v. Beto, 405 U.S. 319 (1972), per curiam.
9.
9. Pell v. Procunier, 417 U.S. 817 (1974).
10.
10. See, for example, Holt v. Sarver, 309 F. Supp. 362 (E.D. Ark. 1970), aff'd, 442 F. 2d 304 (8th Cir. 1971).
11.
11. See, for example, Pugh v. Locke, 406 F. Supp. 318 (M.D. Ala. 1976), aff'd in part, rev'd in part sub nom. Newman v. Alabama, 559 F.2d 283 (5th Cir. 1977), remanded with instructions subnom. Alabama v. Pugh, 438 U.S. 781 (1978).
12.
12. Anthony F. Granucci, “ `Nor Cruel and Unusual Punishments Inflicted': The Original Meaning,”California Law Review, 57(4):839 (Oct. 1969).
13.
13. Ibid.
14.
14. Trop v. Dulles, 356 U.S. 86, 100-101 (1958).
15.
15. Weems v. U.S., 217 U.S. 349, 367 (1910).
16.
16. Gregg v. Georgia, 428 U.S. 153, 173 (1976).
17.
17. Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165, 172 (1952).
18.
18. Holt, 309 F. Supp. at 373.
19.
19. Finney v. Hutto, 410 F. Supp. 251 (E.D. Ark. 1976).
20.
20. Hutto v. Finney, 437 U.S. 678 (1978).
21.
21. Id. at 687.
22.
22. Id. at 688.
23.
23. Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520 (1979).
24.
24. Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. 337 (1982).
25.
25. Wolfish, 441 U.S. at 537.
26.
26. Id. at 538.
27.
27. Id. at 542.
28.
28. Id. at 525.
29.
29. Id. at 543.
30.
30. Rhodes v. Chapman, 434 F. Supp. 1007, 1009 (S.D. Ohio 1977).
31.
31. Rhodes, 452 U.S. at 349.
32.
32. Id. at 347.
33.
33. Id. at 346, 348.
34.
34. Wolfish, 441 U.S. at 542.
35.
35. Rhodes, 452 U.S. at 347.
36.
36. One court, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals—covering California, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and Arizona—decided in Wright v. Rushen, 642 F.2d 1129, 1133 (9th Cir. 1981), that each of the conditions individually must violate the Eighth Amendment before relief can be ordered. Most other courts have held that the sum may be unconstitutional even if the individual conditions are not. For example, French v. Owens, 538 F. Supp. 910, 912 (S.D. Ind. 1982).
37.
37. Rhodes, 452 U.S. at 347, 348.
38.
38. Ruiz, 503 F. Supp. at 127.
39.
39. Wolfish, 441 U.S. at 542.
40.
40. Smith v. Sullivan, 611 F.2d 1039, 1045-46 (5th Cir. 1980).
41.
41. LaReau v. Manson, 651 F.2d 96 (2d Cir. 1981).
42.
42. Toussaint v. Rushen, 553 F. Supp. 1365, 1385 (N.D. Cal. 1983), aff'd in relevant part subnom. Toussaint v. Yockey, 722 F.2d 1490 (9th Cir. 1984).
43.
43. Vazquez v. Gray, 523 F. Supp. 1359 (S.D.N.Y. 1981).
44.
44. Jones v. Diamond, 636 F.2d 1364, 1376 (5th Cir. 1981).
45.
45. Inmates of Allegheny County Jail v. Wecht, 565 F. Supp. 1278, 1297 (W.D. Pa. 1983).
46.
46. French v. Owens, 538 F. Supp. 910, 927 (S.D. Ind. 1982).
47.
47. Benjamin v. Malcolm, 495 F. Supp. 1357, 1365 (S.D.N.Y. 1983).
48.
48. Jones, 636 F.2d at 1376.
49.
49. Ramos v. Lamm, 520 F. Supp. 1059, 1062 (D.Colo. 1981).
50.
50. Benjamin v. Malcolm, 564 F. Supp. 668, 671 (S.D.N.Y. 1983).
51.
51. Grubbs v. Bradley, 552 F. Supp. 1052, 1131 (M.D. Tenn. 1982).
52.
52. Jones v. Wittenburg, 509 F. Supp. 653, 657 (N.D. Ohio 1980).
53.
53. Union County Jail Inmates v. Scanlon, 537 F. Supp. 993, 998 (D.N.J. 1982).
55. Benjamin v. Malcolm, 564 F. Supp. 668 (2d Cir. 1983).
56.
56. Ruiz, 503 F. Supp. at 1283-84.
57.
57. See Leslie Werner, “Overcrowding Spreads to Jails in U.S.,”New York Times, 23 Nov. 1983.
58.
58. Badgley v. Varelas, Nos. 83-2345, 83-2357, 83-2359 slip op. at 2067 (2d Cir. Feb. 24, 1984).
59.
59. Campbell v. MacGruder, 554 F. Supp. 562 (D.C.D.C. 1982).
60.
60. Newman v. State of Alabama, 683 F.2d 1312, 1319 (11th Cir. 1982), cert. denied, 103 Sup. Ct. 1773 (1983).
61.
61. Executive Order No. 106, June 1981, suspending the operation of N.J. Stat. Ann. 2C:43-10(e) (West 1982), cited in Union County Jail Inmates v. DiBuono, 713 F.2d 984, 987 (3rd. Cir. 1983).
62.
62. James B. Jacobs, “The Politics of Prison Expansion,”New York University Review of Law and Social Change, 12(1) (1984).
63.
63. Peter Finn, “Judicial Response to Prison Crowding,”Judicature, 67(7) (Feb. 1984).
