Opinion ID: 544257
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: issues

Text: 1 In this appeal we are called upon to review the district court's findings and conclusion that double-celling inmates in an overcrowded, dilapidated and unsanitary state prison violates the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The defendants/appellants also question the extent of the district court's power to ameliorate prison conditions. 2 Appellees, inmates at the State Correctional Institution at Pittsburgh (SCIP), brought suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania against David Owens, Jr., Commissioner of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections, George Petsock, Superintendent of SCIP, Arnold Snitzer, M.D., a member of the medical staff of SCIP, and Robert Casey, Governor of Pennsylvania, claiming that the conditions of their confinement violated the Eighth Amendment. Chief Judge Cohill, after conducting a six-week trial and an unannounced tour of SCIP, issued a comprehensive opinion identifying numerous constitutional violations in the administration of the prison. See Tillery v. Owens, 719 F.Supp. 1256 (W.D.Pa.1989). The court held that defendants had failed to provide constitutionally adequate security, fire protection, access to the courts, medical care, mental health care, and dental services. The court ordered defendants to submit plans to remedy these deficiencies by a specified date. It also ordered them to hire an environmentalist to devise and to present plans to remedy the inadequate sanitation, ventilation, plumbing and lighting. It ordered that inmates in disciplinary custody, administrative segregation, and self-lockup be separated from each other and the general population and that random, unannounced cell searches for contraband be commenced immediately. The court appointed a monitor to ensure compliance. Additionally, the court held that considering the totality of the conditions in which inmates were incarcerated, the institution was unconstitutionally overcrowded. As a partial remedy to overcrowding, the court ordered the elimination of double-celling by March 1, 1990. The Commonwealth appeals only from this provision of the order. 3 Defendants do not defend double-celling as desirable. They view it as an unpalatable stop-gap response to rapid increases in the prison population. See, e.g., App. at 876-80 (testimony of Superintendent George Petsock). They argue that double-celling, while disfavored, is not unconstitutional and that they should not be required to halt the practice. 4 The problem of double-celling is not unique to SCIP, see, e.g., Brooks v. Kleiman, No. 88-5068 (E.D.Pa. July 31, 1989) (double-celling at State Correctional Institution at Graterford, Pennsylvania), aff'd without opinion, 899 F.2d 1216 (3d Cir.1990); Inmates of Allegheny County Jail v. Wecht, 699 F.Supp. 1137 (W.D.Pa.1988) (double-celling at Allegheny County, Pennsylvania jail), appeal dismissed in part, affirmed in part, 874 F.2d 147 (3d Cir.), vacated on other grounds, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 355, 107 L.Ed.2d 343 (1989), on remand, 893 F.2d 33 (3d Cir.1990); Vazquez v. Carver, 729 F.Supp. 1063 (E.D.Pa.1989) (double-celling at Lehigh County, Pennsylvania prison), or, indeed, to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Throughout the nation prison populations are rising at an explosive rate. See, e.g., U.S. Prison Population Sets Record for a Year, in Six Months, N.Y. Times, Sept. 11, 1989, at 18, col. 4 (in first six months of 1989 nation's prison population rose by 7.3% to total of 673,565 inmates; figures reflect need for almost 1,800 new prison beds a week); Behind Bars, an ever-expanding crowd of inmates, Phila. Inquirer, May 8, 1989, at 1, col. 1 (between 1980 and the end of 1988 nation's prison population increased 90%). 5 States have been hard pressed to build additional cells to house the hundreds of inmates entering the system and many facilities are overburdened and overcrowded. See, e.g., More and More, Prison Is America's Answer to Crime, N.Y. Times, Nov. 26, 1989, sec. 4, at 1, col. 1 (California state prisons routinely operate at 175% of capacity); Behind Bars, Phila. Inquirer, May 8, 1989, at 1, col. 1 (forty-two states are under some type of court order to reduce overcrowding; federal prison system housing up to 72% more than designed for; New Jersey state prisons operating at 118% capacity). As a result, inmates are increasingly forced to double-cell. See, e.g., Heath v. De Courcy, 888 F.2d 1105 (6th Cir.1989) (Hamilton County, Ohio jail); Badgley v. SantaCroce, 853 F.2d 50 (2d Cir.1988) (Nassau County, New York Corrections Center); Vosburg v. Solem, 845 F.2d 763 (8th Cir.) (South Dakota State Penitentiary), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 928, 109 S.Ct. 313, 102 L.Ed.2d 332 (1988); Marsh v. Barry, 824 F.2d 1139 (D.C.Cir.1987) (per curiam) (District of Columbia Central Detention Facility). When double-celling was instituted at SCIP in 1982, it was envisioned as a temporary measure. App. at 859 (testimony of Superintendent Petsock). However, at this time, there is no end to the practice in sight. Id. at 861, 875. 6 The district court's determination that the practice of double-celling at SCIP violates the Eighth Amendment and must be eliminated was made in light of detailed and meticulous findings of fact concerning overcrowding, staff shortages, health care and environmental conditions, including plumbing, ventilation and sanitation. Although we recognize that our recapitulation of the district court's findings necessarily entails a repetition of what is already set forth in that court's reported opinion, we believe an understanding of the salient facts is necessary to the legal analysis we must undertake.