Opinion ID: 364668
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: opportunity for exercise

Text: 229 Exercise is not mere recreation. Unused muscles atrophy. Unexercised bodies become ill. Enforced inertia is itself the denial of a basic physical and mental need. See Miller v. Carson, 5 Cir. 1977, 563 F.2d 741, 749-51. Nor is it only those confined for years who need exercise. Surgeons recognize that physical activity is so important that they are requiring patients to get out of bed and resume some form of exercise within 24 hours after serious surgery. If outdoor exercise is not available, then opportunity for indoor exercise should be afforded those confined for lengthy periods. It does not appear to me that we can ignore as judges what is common knowledge concerning the needs of the human body merely because no doctor has testified to it. 230 The majority opinion points out that facilities for outdoor exercise are available at the new jail. However, many persons may have been confined for lengthy periods in the old Jackson County jail without opportunity for any exercise, indoors or out. Those who have been confined for a lengthy period and who can show injury as a result of lack of exercise should be given an opportunity to do so.