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Conditions in overcrowded prisons violate the ban on cruel and unusual punishment, the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Plata. Justice Kennedy wrote: “A prison that deprives prisoners of basic sustenance, including adequate medical care, is incompatible with the concept of human dignity and has no place in civilized society.”

The opinion included photos of inmates crowded in prisons.

From Overcrowded Prisons:

While this decision won’t change the underlying flaws of mass incarceration and structural racism within the system, it won’t erase the millions of criminal records destroying people’s lives and livelihoods, it won’t pour billions of dollars of resources necessary to create opportunity in poor communities, it is a welcome decision (and finally a reasonable one from this court).

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