Punitive Conditions of Prison Confinement: An Analysis of Pugh V. Locke and Federal Court Supervision of State Penal Administration Under the Eighth Amendment

38 Pages Posted: 10 Jun 2016

See all articles by Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

American University - Washington College of Law

Date Written: May 1, 1977

Abstract

Pugh v. Locke, a recent decision of the Federal District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, exemplifies this new remedial activism on the part of the federal judiciary that results when the eighth amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment is given broad scope. Thus, Pugh's significance begins with its uniquely clear and expansive holding that the confinement conditions facing the aggregate prison population of a state could violate the eighth amendment. This extension of the constitutional mandate to cover overall conditions of confinement, coupled with the finding in Pugh that Alabama's prison system violated that mandate, required Chief Judge Johnson to enlarge the scope of the ultimate federal remedy for unconstitutional punishment. He ordered Alabama prison officials to conform to minutely detailed minimum constitutional standards for prison conditions, and he undertook to monitor the entire prison system to assure compliance. No prior federal court had involved itself s deeply in the administration of a state prison system.

Given the generally deplorable conditions in many correctional facilities in the United States, this development poses serious and important legal issues for aggrieved inmates, prison officials and public policymakers. Moreover, in light of the questions of federalism raised by a United States district court's revamping of an entire state prison system, the decision has even broader implications for the federal adjudication of civil rights generally. This Article examines the doctrinal and remedial alternatives suggested by the prison cases, and particularly Pugh v. Locke, in light of recent Supreme Court restrictions on federal court intervention in state administrative affairs. After a brief discussion of Pugh and of the federalism issues surrounding that case, the Article turns to the body of law interpreting the eighth amendment in the prison context and then to the specific remedies ordered in Pugh in order to implement that law. Finally, the Article concludes with-an examination of the propriety of federal judicial supervision of state prison systems, both in terms of federalism concerns and in light of the more traditional debate over the appropriate role of the judiciary in a democratic society.

Keywords: prisons, Eighth Amendment

Suggested Citation

Robbins, Ira P., Punitive Conditions of Prison Confinement: An Analysis of Pugh V. Locke and Federal Court Supervision of State Penal Administration Under the Eighth Amendment (May 1, 1977). 29 Stanford Law Review 893 (1977)., Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2789647

Ira P. Robbins (Contact Author)

American University - Washington College of Law ( email )

4300 Nebraska Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20016
United States
202-274-4235 (Phone)
202-274-4130 (Fax)

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
117
Abstract Views
1,075
Rank
427,613
PlumX Metrics