Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 30, 1993 TAG: 9303300230
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jail overcrowding that forces some inmates to sleep on the floor does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in an opinion released Monday.
Fain Rutherford, a lawyer who represents the Roanoke jail in federal lawsuits filed by more than a dozen inmates, had not seen the ruling Monday.
But, he said, "it sounds like it bears on the cases they've been bringing here."
The ruling essentially states what Roanoke officials have been saying since the first jail lawsuit was filed in February - that mere overcrowding alone is not enough on which to stake a constitutional claim.
The Eighth Amendment "does not prohibit cruel and unusual prison conditions; it prohibits cruel and unusual punishments," a three-judge panel of the court ruled.
"If a prisoner has not suffered serious or significant physical or mental injury as a result of the challenged condition, he simply has not been subjected to cruel and unusual punishment."
In Roanoke, more than 500 inmates have been crowded into a facility designed for 216. Cells intended for one inmate are holding three, and day areas designed for 10 are holding 30.
Although the lawsuits have contained numerous complaints, a recurring allegation has been that inmates are forced to sleep on the floor.
The handwritten suits also have included more personal gripes, such as cold food and a shortage of milk, that lawyers say are even less likely to receive sympathy from the courts.
In order to prove that a prisoner's constitutional rights were violated, there must be a showing that overcrowding creates a risk to inmate health and safety.
Robert Dale Strickler, an inmate who sued the Portsmouth jail, failed to reach that level.
"It is difficult to believe that Strickler has been injured at all as a result of any of the conditions that he challenges," the court said in throwing out his lawsuit.
The ruling involves a jail even more crowded than Roanoke's; the Portsmouth facility was built for 197 inmates and was holding 475 on Monday.
Overcrowding litigation in Roanoke has been pending since a flurry of lawsuits hit the U.S. District Court clerk's office in February.
The lawsuits now are awaiting a ruling by a federal magistrate, Rutherford said.
As for the Portsmouth case, "I think this is going to provide guidance for the District Court in this area," he said.
Some information in this story came from the Associated Press.
by CNB