Chapter 2

Conditions of Confinement

Color drawing of male prisoner in prison yard, with chain-link shadow across his face

Gym dorm with rows of closely-spaced bunk beds

Sleeping in gym, Mule Creek State Prison (CA) 2008

Several women prisoners in dorm bunk beds

CA Correctional Institution for Women Dorm (2006)

A row of dorm bunk beds, mostly empty, some with bedding

Male prisoners in dayroom, mostly seated at tables

One detainee lies on the bottom bunk of his dorm bed

A few prisoners watch TV in medium size recreation room

Two women in scrubs and personal protective equipment stand next to cart of medical supplies

Michigan prison medical staff during coronavirus pandemic (2020)

Printed poster of rules and expectations describing daily "shakedown" procedure and general conduct expectations

Medium-size whiteboard with rules written in blue and black marker

Clinician seated by open door of small holding cage with one prisoner inside

Mule Creek (CA) Clinical Contact Holding Cage (2008)

Infirmary room with examination table and examination chair

Metal box mounted on wall with paper signs attached

A detainee walks between two rows of dorm beds

Two correctional officers observe detainees in dayroom

Graphic of letter by prisoner about poor medical care

Showing Slide 1 of 16: Color drawing of male prisoner in prison yard, with chain-link shadow across his face

Chapter Overview

This chapter introduces the foundational cases governing the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment requirements of safe and humane incarceration conditions, including the Constitution’s ban on excessive force. It considers both post-conviction incarceration and pretrial detention, and presents and analyzes both subjective and objective liability standards.

Featured Opinions

Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
Castro v. County of Los Angeles, 833 F.3d 1060 (9th Cir. 2016) (en banc)
City of Revere v. Mass. Gen. Hosp., 463 U.S. 239 (1983)
Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97 (1976)
Farmer v. Brennan, 511 U.S. 825 (1994)
Helling v. McKinney, 509 U.S. 25 (1993)
Hope v. Pelzer, 536 U.S. 730 (2002)
Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. 1 (1992)
Hutto v. Finney, 437 U.S. 678 (1978)
Ingraham v. Wright, 430 U.S. 651 (1977)
Jackson v. Bishop, 404 F.2d 571 (8th Cir. 1968)
Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 576 U.S. 389 (2015)
Lombardo v. City of St. Louis, 38 F.4th 684 (8th Cir. 2022)
Peralta v. Dillard, 744 F.3d 1076 (9th Cir. 2014) (en banc)
Rasho v. Jeffries, 22 F.4th 703 (7th Cir. 2022)
Plata v. Newsom, Nos. 21–16696, 21–16816, 2022 WL 1210694 (9th Cir. 2022)
Rhodes v. Chapman, 452 U.S. 337 (1981)
Valentine v. Collier, 140 S.Ct. 1598 (2020)
Whitley v. Albers, 475 U.S. 312 (1986)
Wilkins v. Gaddy, 559 U.S. 34 (2010)
Wilson v. Seiter, 501 U.S. 294 (1991)
Wilson v. Williams, 961 F.3d 829 (6th Cir. 2020)

Featured, Cited, and Supplemental Litigation Documents

Farmer v. Brennan, 92–7247 (U.S.)
- First Amended Complaint for Damages and Injunctive Relief (W.D. Wisc.)
- Petition for a Writ of Certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Cir. (Jun. 1, 1993)
Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 14–6368 (U.S.)
- Brief of Former Corrections Administrators, and Experts as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner (2015)
Arbitration: State of Illinois v. AFSCME Council 31, S-MA-22-12, Arb. Ref.: 21.318
- Interim Opinion and Award (Dec. 29, 2021)
- Final Opinion and Award After Remand (Jan. 22, 2021)

Statutes, Treaties, and Regulations

Model Penal Code, § 2.02 General Requirements of Culpability
Restatement (2D) Torts
- § 283 Conduct of a Reasonable Man
- § 500 Reckless Disregard of Safety

Excerpted Sources & Supplemental Documents

Sharon Dolovich, Cruelty, Prison Conditions, and the Eighth Amendment, 84 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 881 (2009)
Margo Schlanger, The Constitutional Law of Incarceration, Reconfigured, 103 Cornell L. Rev. 357 (2018)
John Stinneford, The Original Meaning of Cruel, 105 Geo L.J. 441 (2017)

Lived Experiences

Additional Reading

Chronic Punishment: The unmet health needs of people in state prisons, Prison Policy Initiative (Jun. 2022)
Benjamin G. Cloyd, Haunted by Atrocity: Civil War Prisons in American Memory (2010)
Sharon Dolovich, The Coherence of Prison Law, 135 Harv. L. Rev. Forum 302 (2022)
Sam McCann, What is Cruel and Unusual Punishment?, Vera (Dec. 2024)
Margo Schlanger, Restoring Objectivity to the Constitutional Law of Incarceration, ACS Issue Brief (Sept. 2018)
Heather Thompson, Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy (2017)
Homer Venters, Life and Death in Rikers Island (2019)
COVID-19 behind bars
- Sharon Dolovich, Mass Incarceration, Meet COVID-19, U.Chi. L. Rev. Online (Nov. 16, 2020)
- Brendan Saloner, COVID-19 Cases and Deaths in Federal and State Prisons, 324 JAMA 602 (2020)

Leah Wang, Why Prisoners Get The Doctors No One Else Wants, Taylor Elizabeth Eldridge, The Appeal (Nov. 8, 2019)