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Constitutional Law Keyed to Farber
Brown v. Plata
Citation:
536 U.S. 493 (2011)Facts
The degree of overcrowding in California’s prisons is exceptional. California’s prisons are designed to house a population just under 80,000, but at the time of the three judge court’s decision the population was almost double that. The State’s prisons has operated at around 200% of design capacity for at least 11 years. Prisoners in California with serious mental illness do not receive minimal, adequate care. Because of a shortage of treatment beds, suicidal inmates may be held prolonged periods in telephone-booth sized cages without toilets. These conditions triggered class action lawsuits claiming that California state prisoners with mental or physical illnesses were incarcerated in a system that violated their Eight Amendment rights to be free of cruel and unusual punishment.
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