Opinion ID: 385707
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Prisoner Protection

Text: 32 When prison officials have failed to control or separate prisoners who endanger the physical safety of other prisoners and the level of violence has become so high that exposure to it constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, we have approved orders to develop a classification system as part of an effort to eradicate those conditions. McCray v. Sullivan, 509 F.2d 1332, 1334 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 423 U.S. 859, 96 S.Ct. 114, 46 L.Ed.2d 86 (1975); Gates v. Collier, 501 F.2d 1291, 1308-10 (5th Cir. 1974). The constant and habitual exposure of convicted prisoners to persons who are contagiously ill is also reprobated as cruel and unusual punishment. The evidence convinces us that prisoners in the Jackson County jail were constantly exposed to both violence and disease.