Holt v. Sarver

Holt v. Sarver (Arkansas) is the first in a series of American common law cases that have found entire state prison systems in violation of prisoners' constitutional rights by providing cruel and unusual punishment. [cite web
author=
year=
month=
url=http://conlaw.usatoday.findlaw.com/constitution/amendment08/08.html
title=U.S. Constitution: Eighth Amendment
publisher=USA Today
accessdate=2007-12-10] In "Holt v. Sarver", Arkansas' prison system, which had no written standards, was found in violation of United States constitutional law. [cite web
author=
year=
month=
url=http://faculty.ncwc.edu/TOCONNOR/294/294lect13.htm
title=Prisoners Rights, Litigation and Constitutional Law
publisher=
accessdate=2007-12-10] These cases have significantly altered the American prison system, specifically with regard to prisoners' rights under the Eighth Amendment.

Arkansas cases

In 1969 in "Holt v. Sarver I", 300 F. Supp. 825, Judge J. Smith Henley ruled several aspects of Arkansas' existing prison system unconstitutional. He issued guidelines to follow for correcting the problems, and ordered administrators to report on the progress of the implementation of these guidelines. [cite web
author=
year=1971
month=January 18
url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,942467-4,00.html
title=The Shame of the Prisons (Arkansas)
publisher=Time Magazine
accessdate=2007-12-10]

In 1970 in "Holt v. Sarver II", 309 F. Supp. 362, Judge Henley ruled the entire Arkansas prison system unconstitutional and ordered the State Correction Board to devise a plan of action. In that same case in 1971, Judge Henley enjoined the Arkansas prison from preventing the inmates' access to court and from inflicting cruel and unusual punishment upon them. [cite web
author=
year=
month=
url=http://maxpages.com/arklaw/Holt_v_Sarver_II_Part_1
title=The Supreme Court Addresses the Dark & Evil World
publisher=
accessdate=2007-12-10] [cite web
author=
year=
month=
url=http://www.arkansas.gov/doc/history_gallery.html
title=Prison History and Gallery
publisher=Arkansas Department of Corrections
accessdate=2007-12-10]

Prior history

The Supreme Court ruled in "Jones v. Cunningham" in 1963 that inmates in state institutions could file a writ of habeas corpus challenging the conditions of their imprisonment as well as its legality. This ruling reversed the Supreme Court's "hands off" policy regarding federal interference in state penal issues first clearly stated in 1866 in "Pervear v. Massachusetts". [cite web
author=
year=
month=
url=http://www.usconstitution.net/consttop_bor.html
title=Constitutional Topic: The Bill of Rights
publisher=U.S. Constitution Online
accessdate=2007-12-10] Subsequently, in a series of cases starting with "Gates v. Collier" the federal government began whole scale intervention in the constitutionality of the operation of state prison systems.cite web
url=http://www.dsl.psu.edu/civilrights/chapter1.html
title=ACLU Parchman Prison
publisher=
accessdate=2006-08-29]

ee also

*Trusty system
*Gates v. Collier
*Pervear v. Massachusetts

Footnotes

External links

* [http://books.google.com/books?id=0S9IQTXjrpQC&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=holt+v+sarver&source=web&ots=xiqmc3u-5Q&sig=ZqMQxwLNYWZ32uu6kHpLU5LdDoo#PPA59,M1Judicial Policy Making and the Modern State: How the Courts Reformed America]