Prison conditions violate the 8th amendment

[punkgrrrlie10]

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/05/22/mississippi.death.row.ap/index.html

JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) -- A federal judge ruled that life on Mississippi's death row is so harsh and filthy that inmates are being driven insane, and ordered reforms that advocates praised as a precedent-setting breakthrough in prisoners' rights.

U.S. Magistrate Jerry Davis found Wednesday that the way inmates are treated at the Parchman prison constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment.

"No one in a civilized society should be forced to live under conditions that force exposure to another person's bodily wastes," Davis wrote in his decision. "No matter how heinous the crime committed, there is no excuse for such living conditions."

The judge instructed the state Corrections Department to undertake 10 actions to improve conditions -- including annual mental health checkups, better lighting, improved toilets, insect control and ways to keep inmates cool during the summer heat.

Margaret Winter, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project, said she believed the ruling set a precedent for standards on death row.

"Judge Davis really did the right thing here in recognizing the basic principle in our society that we treat everybody humanely, that we don't subject anybody to torture," she said.

Co-counsel Steve Hanlon called the decision "courageous."

"To my knowledge, it is the first successful prison conditions case on death row in America," Hanlon said.

Wednesday's ruling came in a lawsuit filed on behalf of six inmates who alleged harsh conditions were contributing to a high rate of mental illness among prisoners. Davis ordered prison officials to report on progress by July 7.

Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps, who has said he does not consider Mississippi's death row any worse than others across the country, said he will meet with Davis next week to challenge some orders and seek clarification on others.

"The Mississippi Department of Corrections respectfully disagrees with Judge Davis' findings," Epps said.

He shrugged off the allegations that something had to be done about sweltering prison cells. "It's hot in the Delta," he said.

Cost is an issue for the department, which is facing a deficit of more than $60 million next year. Epps said implementing the judge's orders could affect education and literacy programs.

Sixty-six inmates are on death row at Parchman and a woman under a death sentence is at a women's prison unit outside Jackson.

They have complained about stifling heat and lack of ventilation. Davis said that if the heat index exceeds 90 degrees, each cell must be equipped with a fan, and ice water and showers must be made available to the inmates.

Davis also ordered the Corrections Department to draw up plans to upgrade the plumbing and lighting, provide cleaning materials and make sure all windows are repaired and screened to protect the inmates from insects.

The judge said officials also should provide sneakers and a shaded area with access to water for exercise. Currently, inmates wear prison-issued flip-flops in individual pens for exercise.

Carolyn Clayton, who helped found the victims' rights group Survival Inc., said she couldn't disagree with Davis' ruling.

"Even though they've done some horrific things, they are still human beings," she said.

[AChimp]

See, I disagree with that last sentence. :(

[Jeanette X]

I can see how such conditions would make anyone miserable and potentially more unstable, but "driven insane?"

[punkgrrrlie10]

Imagine sitting in a room, by yourself. Just sitting there. Smelling crap and urine with shitty food....just sitting there. I would go crazy in solitary confinement which is usually how death row prisoners are kept.

[Jeanette X]

Imagine sitting in a room, by yourself. Just sitting there. Smelling crap and urine with shitty food....just sitting there. I would go crazy in solitary confinement which is usually how death row prisoners are kept.

Hmm...I wonder what the proper psychological term for the stress brought on by such an environment.

[AChimp]

Yeah, but they're gonna be executed eventually. I mean, how many death row inmates are actually released and set free where they can run amok in society again? Most of the time sentences are reduced to life in prison, and in the cases where the person is innocent, they are given millions of dollars.

[punkgrrrlie10]

The average minimum time spent on death row is about 10 years and can go as long as 30. So imagine spending 10 years if you are on the "zap em' fast track" that they have in Texas and sitting in a room by yourself, with nothing to do but smell others feces.

[Zero Signal]

The average minimum time spent on death row is about 10 years and can go as long as 30. So imagine spending 10 years if you are on the "zap em' fast track" that they have in Texas and sitting in a room by yourself, with nothing to do but smell others feces.
So imagine what they did to their victims when they brutally murdered them or what the victims' families are going through because of that. Oh, poor death row inmate. :rolleyes

Let them smell piss and feces. Wallpaper their cells with photos of their victims. Give them constant reminders until the day of their death (whether at the end of a life sentence or in the chamber) of what they have done. They became animals the moment they chose to willfully take anothers life. >:

[ItalianStereotype]

90 degrees? that's it? what the fuck are they expecting living in MISSISSIPPI? hell, most of the summer here in Texas is well above 100 degrees and people are still outside living their lives.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

90 degrees? that's it? what the fuck are they expecting living in MISSISSIPPI? hell, most of the summer here in Texas is well above 100 degrees and people are still outside living their lives.

:(

[ItalianStereotype]

don't worry kev, you either get used to it in the first couple of days or you pass out. and die. and shrivel. and rot.

it really isn't that bad. hell, you might even get lucky and move here during one of our cool summers.

[FS]

You can't pick and choose which laws you want to abide and which ones you don't. It takes the highest of civilization to allow your society's criminals the same rights as everyone else. The law system can't be about revenge, otherwise you might as well have the victims pronounce sentence - it must be about protecting the public and serving justice. Tormenting someone who's going to die anyway or exposing them to inhuman living conditions is cruel, and that bears no connection to what their crimes are. If you're going to do that, might as well put a bullet through their head now and get it over with.

[punkgrrrlie10]

90 degrees? that's it? what the fuck are they expecting living in MISSISSIPPI? hell, most of the summer here in Texas is well above 100 degrees and people are still outside living their lives.

90 degrees outside, or 90 degrees in the cell?

[Zero Signal]

If you're going to do that, might as well put a bullet through their head now and get it over with.
Better than them each sucking up $30,000/yr for the next 15 years of taxpayers' money.

Almost a half of a million dollars just to keep them in jail when they are being executed anyway. meh

[AChimp]

They should build a mock-up of the Klingon's Rura Pente penal colony in the Arctic. >:

[Protoclown]

We shouldn't even be executing criminals in the first place.

Fuck the death penalty.

[Metalislife]

I personally feel that the ones who commit very, very extreme crimes (violent rape, first degree murder, mass murder, child molestation, arson, etc.) should be put to death, while other criminals (for crimes such as drug dealing, armed robbery, car theft, spousal abuse, kidnapping, etc.) should sit in a jail cell and be subjected to the worst possible living conditions known to mankind.

I do understand that there are mistakes made, in which a person will be falsely accused for a crime that he/she did not commit; that really pisses me off and shows that the justice system can be screwed up now and then. I am sure that there are many others who feel this way as well.

However, what I stated above is not a valid enough argument to remove the death penalty completely in America. There are always going to be those cold-blooded criminals out there who have no remorse for their crimes and will never be rehabilitated for such actions. People of that nature need to take their punishment.

[ItalianStereotype]

um...what does that have to do with anything?

[punkgrrrlie10]

not only that, but what about the ones that sit on death row under those conditions which are innocents? They deserve those conditions too right?

[AChimp]

In order to make an omlette, you gotta crack some eggs. >:

It's unfortunate that innocent people get sent to ANY prison, nevermind death row. But should we improve the conditions just because a few people are unlucky? What are the actual statistics on innocent vs. guilty being sent to prison?

[mburbank]

And you can't make a human brain omlette without cracking skulls. But we're not making omlettes here, were incarcerating people.

It all comes down to what you think prison is for. For people on death row you can pretty much discount rehabilitation as a goal, but I prefer the idea that a life sentence is primarily to keep society safe and a significant punishment in and of itself.

If our goal is punishment and retribution, and we use cost effectiveness as an argument, we could torture people much more efficiently and much more cheaply. I think it is unhealthy for the soul of a country to actively invest in retribution. I also think it's dangerous. Once a practice becomes thinkable it is soon being done. Once it's done, the taboo's against applying it wherever it's concidered usefull grow weak. Then the deffinition of what's 'usefull' gets loose.

[VinceZeb]

And you can't make a human brain omlette without cracking skulls. But we're not making omlettes here, were incarcerating people.

Thanks for clearing that up. I don't think any of us would have known this wasn't a cooking thread.

[mburbank]

Shut your hose, clambake. The Grownups are talking.

[VinceZeb]

Shut your hose, clambake. The Grownups are talking.

[kellychaos]

not only that, but what about the ones that sit on death row under those conditions which are innocents? They deserve those conditions too right?

Funny you should bring that up. NPR, or more precisely, the show "This American Life" just aired an episode in which the subject matter was wrongfully convicted criminals. The first bit of the show discussed the Rossetti case in which four black youths were incarcerated for 15 years until the verdict was reversed and they were released in 2001 due to DNA evidence (it was a murder/rape case ... you probably already knew that). Anyway, the narrator made the interesting point that cases that CAN and ARE being reversed due to DNA evidence have caused the legal system to re-examine itself and the cases that CANNOT be reversed on DNA evidence. In other words, what other kinds of definciencies and/or problems are there in the arrest/conviction process (ex: coercion of testimony, false testimony, false evidence, ect.). I figure that you, being a legal student, can shed some light on just how often this sort of thing (wrongful convictions) happens.

[punkgrrrlie10]

well since the death penalty was brought back into play in 1977, there have been 100 exonerations based on DNA by the innocence project.

http://www.aclu.org/DeathPenalty/DeathPenalty.cfm?ID=10119&c=65

As far as faulty evidence is concerned. Witness testimony is one of the most volatile types of evidence there are and yet the most convincing for a jury besides DNA. And sometimes you have a co-conspirator who will testify against their cohort in crime in order to get leniency and they may very well be the only witness to the crime. Of course you can see a conflict of interest there for determining guilt or innocence and there are alot of restrictions on admitting character evidence in court. You can't really bring crimes in unless they were perjury to prove a persons lying. I'm not saying that the system doesn't convict more innocents than guilty. I do still truly believe in our judicial system but there are faults, and when the penalty is death, I don't think "mistakes" are acceptable.

[kellychaos]

Although I know NPR to be quite liberal, I couldn't help but think (after hearing the program) that the system would have to be damn near 100% accurate before I'd endorse the death penalty. Of course, in a case that personally involved my friends or loved ones and the case was overwhelmingly strong against the accused, I'd probably have a hard time upholding my ethics. I guess I'm taking one of those idealistic stances that looks good on paper but if something happened to me ... I really don't know. :/