Gates v. Collier

Gates v. Collier, 501 F.2d 1291 (5th Cir. 1974), was a landmark case decided by a United States federal court called the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.  The case had to do with the rights of prisoners at Mississippi State Penitentiary (usually called "Parchman").


Gates v. Collier is a very important case for prisoners' rights.  It was the first case to rule that many types of physical punishment against prisoners are cruel and unusual punishment, and are against the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.  It was also the first time that the Supreme Court started supervising how the country's prisons were being run.

Background

The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution says that the state cannot give cruel and unusual punishments to anyone.

Parchman opened in 1903.  At the prison, there was a program called the "trusty system."  This was a system where some prisoners had more rights and freedoms than others.  They also had power over the other inmates.Winter, Margaret; & Hanlon, Stephen F. (2008). Parchman Farm Blues: Pushing for Prison Reforms at Mississippi State Penitentiary. Litigation 35 1: 1-8.

The Governor of Mississippi, James K. Vardaman, said the prison was run “like an efficient slave plantation.”  Trusties had guns and were allowed to shoot at prisoners who stepped out of line.  Other punishments were painful and severe.  The prison also segregated (separated) black and white prisoners.  

For years, there were protests over civil rights abuses at Parchman.  Eventually, civil rights lawyer Roy Haber began to collect evidence of the abuse.  With Haber as their lawyer, four prisoners filed a lawsuit in federal court, saying that conditions at the prison were cruel and unusual.  They said that prison trusties and guards punished and tortured prisoners in ways that were painful and humiliating on purpose.

Lower court decision

The prisoners' lawsuit, Gates v. Collier, 349 F. Supp. 881 (1972), went first  to a federal court called the United States District Court N.D. Mississippi, Greenville Division.  This court ruled strongly in favor of the prisoners
The court found that Parchman's trusties and guards gave many cruel and unusual punishments, including:Gates v. Collier, 349 F. Supp. 881 (1972) (N.D. Miss. 1972).  
 Beatings
 Shooting at or around prisoners, sometimes hitting them
 Taking away prisoners' clothes
 Turning fans on prisoners while they were naked and wet
 Not giving inmates food, mattresses, or items for hygiene
 Handcuffing prisoners to fences or bars
 Using a cattle prod on prisoners
 Forcing prisoners to stand for long periods of time
 Putting inmates in stress positions (positions that are painful)

The court ruled that the prison had violated the prisoner's rights under the First, Sixth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution.  The court ordered the prison to make many different changes to fix these abuses.  It also ordered the prison to end the trusty system.

Fifth Circuit decision
The state of Mississippi appealed this decision to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals.  However, the Fifth Circuit also agreed with the lower court's earlier decision.Gates v. Collier, 501 F.2d 1291 (5th Cir. 1974).  Federal Judge William C. Keady wrote that Parchman Farm had violated "modern standards of decency".  He ordered an immediate end to all unconstitutional conditions and practices.

The Fifth Circuit Court ruled that Parchman was using cruel and unusual punishments on its prisoners.  It was violating their rights to be protected by the laws  which apply to prisoners, too.  

Effects
After the court decision, Parchman had to end its trusty system.  It also stopped segregating its prisoners.

After the court decision, other states that used the trusty system had to stop using it too.  These states included Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, and Texas.

This decision also set some important precedents.  One is that even prisoners have the right to be protected from cruel and unusual punishment.  Americans' constitutional rights do not all stop when a person goes to prison.  It also limited the type of punishments that prisons can use.

Notes

Related pages
 Cruel and unusual punishment

References

Category:1974 in the United States
Category:American civil rights
Category:1970s in Mississippi
Category:Human rights abuses in the United States
Category:1970s in law