Is the Eighth Amendment Protection Violated If Prisoners Are Deprived of Basic Sustenance, Including Adequate Medical Care?
Michael Gibbons, October 20, 2015, Issue 7
Facts:
The Eighth Amendment of the United States protects all people from cruel and unusual punishment. The State of California has been violating the Eighth Amendment for not providing safe, sanitary, or livable conditions for inmates in the California penal system. Those who are imprisoned by the State of California not only have a higher suicide rate than any other state, in 2006 the suicide rate among Californian inmates was “80% higher than the national average,” (Katsh 114). Out of those suicides, “a court-appointed Special Master found that 72.1% of suicides involved “some …show more content…
The state must then provide the inmates with the basic needs of all people including, medical care, psychiatric care, and basic sanitary conditions. It was found that the prisons in the State of California were extremely overpopulated, and that “overcrowding has overtaken the limited resources of prison staff; imposed demands well beyond the capacity of the medical and mental health facilities; and created unsanitary and unsafe conditions,” (Katsh 113). Overcrowding has caused the prison staffs to be unable to adequately treat those with medical conditions and those with mental illnesses. At times the overcrowding became so severe that for suicidal inmates, there were not enough free beds. In lieu of suicide preventative beds, “suicidal inmates may be held for prolonged periods in telephone-booth size cages without toilets,… for nearly 24 hours, standing in a pool of [their] own urine,” (Katsh 114). Not only is that unsanitary, that is inhumane by nature. Not only is that individual suffering from a mental illness, but now they are suffering through a traumatic experience such as …show more content…
The State of California is required “to release 46,000 convicted felons,” (Katsh 118) due to overcrowding of the State’s penal system. Although the State will be required to release said amount of inmates, the process “must be narrowly drawn, [and] exten[d] no further than necessary to correct the violation of the Federal right,” (Katsh 118). Those inmates who are to be released must have been directly deprived under the Eighth Amendment. An inmate must have been directly affected by the inadequate services in the penal system such as medical help of unsanitary conditions. It was said that it would be “preposterous” if an inmate had standing “merely by virtue of being a patient in a poorly-run prison system,” (Katsh 118). It is unreasonable and irrational to claim that “an entire system is unconstitutional because it may produce constitutional violations,” (Katsh 119) not every prison in The State of California violated the Eighth
Michael Gibbons, October 20, 2015, Issue 7
Facts:
The Eighth Amendment of the United States protects all people from cruel and unusual punishment. The State of California has been violating the Eighth Amendment for not providing safe, sanitary, or livable conditions for inmates in the California penal system. Those who are imprisoned by the State of California not only have a higher suicide rate than any other state, in 2006 the suicide rate among Californian inmates was “80% higher than the national average,” (Katsh 114). Out of those suicides, “a court-appointed Special Master found that 72.1% of suicides involved “some …show more content…
The state must then provide the inmates with the basic needs of all people including, medical care, psychiatric care, and basic sanitary conditions. It was found that the prisons in the State of California were extremely overpopulated, and that “overcrowding has overtaken the limited resources of prison staff; imposed demands well beyond the capacity of the medical and mental health facilities; and created unsanitary and unsafe conditions,” (Katsh 113). Overcrowding has caused the prison staffs to be unable to adequately treat those with medical conditions and those with mental illnesses. At times the overcrowding became so severe that for suicidal inmates, there were not enough free beds. In lieu of suicide preventative beds, “suicidal inmates may be held for prolonged periods in telephone-booth size cages without toilets,… for nearly 24 hours, standing in a pool of [their] own urine,” (Katsh 114). Not only is that unsanitary, that is inhumane by nature. Not only is that individual suffering from a mental illness, but now they are suffering through a traumatic experience such as …show more content…
The State of California is required “to release 46,000 convicted felons,” (Katsh 118) due to overcrowding of the State’s penal system. Although the State will be required to release said amount of inmates, the process “must be narrowly drawn, [and] exten[d] no further than necessary to correct the violation of the Federal right,” (Katsh 118). Those inmates who are to be released must have been directly deprived under the Eighth Amendment. An inmate must have been directly affected by the inadequate services in the penal system such as medical help of unsanitary conditions. It was said that it would be “preposterous” if an inmate had standing “merely by virtue of being a patient in a poorly-run prison system,” (Katsh 118). It is unreasonable and irrational to claim that “an entire system is unconstitutional because it may produce constitutional violations,” (Katsh 119) not every prison in The State of California violated the Eighth