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| High Court Outlaws Prison Punishment |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 07/01/2002 |
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The U.S. Supreme Court outlawed the Alabama prison practice of chaining disruptive inmates to outdoor 'hitching posts,' calling it cruel and unusual punishment. Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for the majority in Thursday's 6-3 decision, said the practice 'unnecessarily and wantonly inflicted pain.' The court also said a prisoner could sue over his chaining. Alabama revived the practice in 1995 as part of a get-tough program for criminals but abandoned it in 1998. The ruling made it clear that prison officers across the nation may be sued for such conduct, even if they were just following orders. As many as 400 inmates in Alabama can now sue officers and get a jury trial on claims they were mistreated, said attorney Craig Jones, who represents Larry Hope, the inmate whose case reached the Supreme Court. 'You can't gratuitously use physical pain for punishment,' Jones said. The officers 'were all in a position where they should have known better.' Law enforcement officers generally enjoy what is called qualified immunity from lawsuits, unless their conduct violates the Constitution or established law. The ruling halted a string of Supreme Court decisions that shielded prison officials from inmate lawsuits. Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor said that the officers in the case could not have known hitching posts would be declared illegal and noted that then-Gov. Fob James and the former prisons commissioner had ordered their use. 'This ruling sends a dangerous and discouraging message to all corrections officers who work hard every day to maintain order and security in our state's prisons,' Gov. Don Siegelman said. Hope claimed he was twice chained to an outdoor pole in 1995 and denied food and water as punishment for fighting while assigned to a chain gang. He said his arms were chained at head level, and he was left once for seven hours without a bathroom break. Hope, 45, is serving a life sentence for rape. In a dissent, Justice Clarence Thomas said the inmate was chained 'for a legitimate penological purpose: encouraging his compliance with prison rules while out on work duty.' But Richard Cohen, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, said officers knew that hitching an inmate to his cell or a fence was illegal, so they should not have thought a hitching post would be OK. 'This decision will put an end to the state's sorry history of using a torture device,' he said. The case is Hope v. Pelzer, 01-309. |
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