Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/10pdf/09-1233.pdf
Page Number: 33

Cite as:  563 U. S. ____ (2011) 

27 

Opinion of the Court 

were  caused  by  factors  in  addition  to  overcrowding  and
that  reducing  crowding  in  the  prisons  would  not  entirely
cure  the  violations.    This  is  consistent  with  the  reports 
of  the  Coleman  Special  Master  and  Plata  Receiver,  both 
of whom concluded that even a significant reduction in the
prison population would not remedy the violations absent 
continued  efforts  to  train  staff,  improve  facilities,  and
reform  procedures.    App.  487,  1054.8   The  three-judge
court  nevertheless  found  that  overcrowding  was  the  pri-
mary cause in the sense of being the foremost cause of the
violation. 

This understanding of the primary cause requirement is 
consistent  with  the  text  of  the  PLRA.    The  State  in  fact 
concedes  that  it  proposed  this  very  definition  of  primary 
cause  to  the  three-judge  court.  “Primary”  is  defined  as
“[f]irst  or  highest  in  rank,  quality,  or  importance;  princi-
pal.”  American  Heritage  Dictionary  1393  (4th  ed.  2000);
see  also  Webster’s  Third  New  International  Dictionary
1800 (2002) (defining “primary” as “first in rank or impor-
tance”);  12  Oxford  English  Dictionary  472  (2d  ed.  1989) 
(defining  “primary”  as  “[o]f  the  first  or  highest  rank  or 
importance;  that  claims  the  first  consideration;  principal,
chief ”).  Overcrowding need only be the foremost, chief, or
principal cause of the violation.  If Congress had intended 

—————— 

8 The Plata Receiver concluded that those  who believed a population
reduction  would  be  a  panacea  were  “simply  wrong.”    App.  1054–1055. 
The  Receiver  nevertheless  made  clear  that  “the  time  this  process  will 
take,  and  the  cost  and  the  scope  of  intrusion  by  the  Federal  Court 
cannot help but increase, and increase in a very significant manner, if
the  scope  and  characteristics  of  [California  prison]  overcrowding 
continue.”  Id.,  at  1053.    The  Coleman  Special  Master  likewise  found
that  a  large  release  of  prisoners,  without  other  relief,  would  leave  the 
violation  “largely  unmitigated”  even  though  deficiencies  in  care  “are 
unquestionably  exacerbated  by  overcrowding”  and  “defendants’  ability
to  provide  required  mental  health  services  would  be  enhanced  consid-
erably  by  a  reduction  in  the  overall  census”  of  the  prisons.    App.  486–
487.