Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/10pdf/09-1233.pdf
Page Number: 42

36 

BROWN v. PLATA 

Opinion of the Court 

so  the  system  as  a  whole  remains in  compliance  with  the
order.  This  will  allow  prison  officials  to  shift  prisoners 
to  facilities  that  are  better  able  to  accommodate  over-
crowding,  or  out  of  facilities  where  retaining  sufficient
medical staff has been difficult.  The alternative—a series 
of  institution-specific  population  limits—would  require 
federal judges to make these choices.  Leaving this discre-
tion to state officials does not make the order overbroad. 

Nor  is  the  order  overbroad  because  it  limits  the  State’s 
authority to run its prisons, as the State urges in its brief.
While the order does in some respects shape or control the 
State’s authority in the realm of prison administration, it 
does so in a manner that leaves much to the State’s discre-
tion.  The  State  may  choose  how  to  allocate  prisoners
between  institutions;  it  may  choose  whether  to  increase 
the  prisons’  capacity  through  construction  or  reduce  the
population;  and,  if  it  does  reduce  the  population,  it  may 
decide what steps to take to achieve the necessary reduc-
tion.  The  order’s  limited  scope  is  necessary  to  remedy  a 
constitutional violation. 

As  the  State  implements  the  order  of  the  three-judge
court, time and experience may reveal targeted and effec-
tive  remedies  that  will  end  the  constitutional  violations 
even  without  a  significant  decrease  in  the  general  prison 
population.  The State will be free to move the three-judge
court for modification of its order on that basis, and these 
motions  would  be  entitled  to  serious  consideration.    See 
infra, at 45–48.  At this time, the  State has not proposed 
any realistic alternative to the order.  The State’s desire to 
avoid  a  population  limit,  justified  as  according  respect  to
state authority, creates a certain and unacceptable risk of 
continuing violations of the rights of sick and mentally ill 
prisoners,  with  the  result  that  many  more  will  die  or
needlessly  suffer.  The  Constitution  does  not  permit  this 
wrong.