ALBANY, NY - A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit challenging the state prison system‘s practice of putting two inmates in cells designed for one, saying the double-bunking does not violate the U.S. Constitution.

But U.S. District Judge Gerard Lynch, in a decision dated May 26 in Manhattan, said that simply putting two convicts in a cell designed for one "is a far cry from the ‘wanton and unnecessary infliction of pain‘ against which the Eighth Amendment protects."

Lynch used basic math — namely the Pythagorean theorem — to dispute arguments that those sharing cells were forced to sleep closer to the toilet than prisoners in single-person cells. Most of the cells have between 48 and 60 square feet of space.

A spokeswoman for the law firm that represented the inmates said the attorney handling the case was unavailable for comment.