MODULE 8: CONDITIONS OF CONFINEMENT, PREA, and CRIPA
LISTEN TO: COMMENTARY ON MODULE 8
READ:
1) Chapter 8 in the textbook (you also read this chapter for Module 7) AND Chapter 11 in the textbook pages 235-248.
2) “Texas Prisons Stop Using Solitary Confinement, but Thousands Kept in Administrative Segregation,” (1/4/2021) in Prison Legal News: https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2018/jul/6/texas-prisons-stop-using-solitary-confinement-punishment-thousands-kept-administrative-segregation/
3) “Texas Prisons Lead the Nation in Long-Term Solitary Confinement,” (10/10/2018) in The Texas Observer: https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-prisons-lead-the-nation-in-long-term-solitary-confinement/
4) “The SHU,” (7/26/2017) Ear Hustle podcast (31 minutes): https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2017/7/26/the-shu?rq=solitary
5) “California is Ordered to Cut its Prison Population,” (5/23/2011), National Public Radio (4 minutes): https://www.npr.org/2011/05/23/136579580/california-is-ordered-to-cut-its-prison-population
6) American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Summary of the PLRA:
https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/images/asset_upload_file79_25805.pdf
7) Administrative Segregation in U.S. Prisons, Executive Summary National Institute of Justice https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/249750.pdf
8) The website for the National PREA Resource Center: https://www.prearesourcecenter.org/about/prison-rape-elimination-act
Read about the passage of the PREA in 2003 and the various components of the legislation.
9) The website for the United States Department of Justice Rights of Persons Confined to Jails and Prisons: https://www.justice.gov/crt/rights-persons-confined-jails-and-prisons
Read about the authority that The Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA) gives to the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Divisions to investigate conditions in prisons and jails.
10) Investigation of the Lowell Correctional Institution – Florida Department of Corrections : file:///C:/Users/Administrator/Documents/Legal%20aspects%20of%20corrections%20f2021/federal%20cripa%20report%202020.pdf
This 34-page report describes a CRIPA investigation into allegations of sexual abuse of prisoners by the institution’s staff. It’s a good example of how CRIPA, the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the Eighth Amendment, and the PREA all work together when analyzing allegations of sexual abuse against inmates. The report analyzes a tragic and awful set of circumstances under a legal lens.
WATCH:
11) National Geographic film (5 minutes) about life in the Special Housing Unit at Pelican Bay Prison in California: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ajzsh-i54
Module 8 Assignment (due 3/27, no later than 11:59 pm)
Worth a maximum of 22.5 points toward the final grade
QUESTION 1:
Prisoners housed in the state prison located in Middle Town America have filed a lawsuit alleging that their living conditions violate the Eight Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. They have complied a list of several issues that together the prisoners allege are unconstitutional: unsanitary cellblocks that attract bugs, blankets that are too thin and do not provide enough warmth in during cold weather days, correctional officers who ignore their requests to be allowed to go to the unit’s infirmary when they are ill, correctional staff who use threats of violence when they ask for basic things like toilet tissue, toilets that overflow on an almost daily basis, and dormitories that house an overflow of prisoners. Based on Wilson v. Seiter, what do the prisoners have to prove in order to prevail? 1 page minimum, double-spaced.
QUESTION 2:
Inmate Jenkins has filed his 4th lawsuit against the warden at Starburst Prison where Jenkins is housed. Jenkins complains in his 4th lawsuit that fresh fruit is never served in the inmate chow hall. Does the PLRA impact his lawsuit? Focus on the PLRA! Explain how specific sections of the PLRA impact Jenkins’ lawsuit. One page minimum, double-spaced.
QUESTION 3:
The use of SHUs (special Housing units, aka administrative segregation, restrictive housing) is very controversial. You read earlier about the classification of prisoners into SHU housing. You are a correctional warden of a maximum security unit that houses offenders who have assaulted correctional staff and/or other inmates. Make the argument that SHU housing is necessary. Explain why. Then make the argument that SHU housing should be eliminated or drastically restricted. Argue BOTH sides! Let me know in your answer that you listened to the Ear Hustle episode, watched the youtube video, and read the short articles under the reading requirements. How do you let me know? Mention the title of the article, podcast, and video and why they offer information that is relevant to your answer. 1 ½ page paragraph minimum.
QUESTION 4
Open the link for Implementation at the top of the homepage for the National PREA Information Center (#8 in the required reading list for this Module). From there, open the link for Prison and Jail Standards. Notice there are 12 “chapters,” each covering a specific area involving implementation of the PREA. Congress created the National Prison Rape Elimination Commission to draft standards that correctional facilities must follow to implement the requirements of the PREA. From the first 10 “chapters” that are found under the Prison and Jail Standards, chose one standard from three DIFFERENT chapters that you found most interesting/confusing/controversial and explain in your words: the standard and why you chose to write about it. To clarify: you only have to discuss THREE standards total, but each of those THREE must come from a different chapter.
Some of the standards are complicated with multiple parts. Summarize the most important requirements of the three standards you selected.
Be careful not to be too brief in your answer. Show me that you did not wait until the last minute to do the assignment!!
QUESTION 5
Describe in your own words what CRIPA allows the Attorney General to and how that office goes about its work. 2 paragraph minimum of your own words!!! (no plagiarism – do not “copy” the website and no quotes).
QUESTION 6
The majority of Section IV of the investigation report about the Lowell Correctional Center describes evidence of the specific acts of sexual abuse, the failure to implement systems to deal with such abuse, and the authorities at the prison who knew about but disregarded the abuse. Make sure you read about (or skim) the evidence provided in those pages of the report. The evidence is shocking!
Question 2 focuses on Section IV. A.1. “Staff Sexual Abuse of Lowell Prisoners Violates Prisoners’ Constitutional Rights” (pp, 4 -8). In your own words (that includes no quotes) explain how the report concludes that the sexual abuse at Lowell constituted a violation not just of the Prison Rape Elimination Act but also of the Eighth Amendment. Do not be brief! DIG IN.
Notice that it is not sufficient to conclude simply that shocking facts automatically = constitutional violations. Legal analysis applies legal doctrines and previous decisions that have interpreted the Eighth Amendment to reach the conclusion that shocking facts amount to violations of the Eighth Amendment. Question 6 asks you to follow the steps of that analysis. 1 page minimum.
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MODULE 8: CONFINEMENT, PREA, and CRIPA CONDITIONS
LISTEN TO: MODULE 8 COMMENTARY
READ:
1) Pages 235-248 of the textbook’s Chapter 8 (you should also study this chapter for Module 7) AND the textbook’s Chapter 11 (you should also read this chapter for Module 7).
2) “Texas Prisons Stop Using Solitary Confinement, but Thousands Stay in Administrative Segregation,” in Prison Legal News (1/4/2021): https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2018/jul/6/texas-prisons-stop-using-solitary-confinement-punishment-thousands-stay-in-administrative-segregation/
3) The Texas Observer, “Texas Prisons Lead the Nation in Long-Term Solitary Confinement,” 10/10/2018: https://www.texasobserver.org/texas-prisons-lead-the-nation-in-long-term-solitary-confinement/
4) “The SHU,” (7/26/2017) Ear Hustle podcast (31 minutes): https://www.earhustlesq.com/episodes/2017/7/26/the-shu?rq=solitary
5) “California is Ordered to Cut its Prison Population,” (5/23/2011), National Public Radio (4 minutes): https://www.npr.org/2011/05/23/136579580/california-is-ordered-to-cut-its-prison-population
6) American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Summary of the PLRA:
https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/images/asset_upload_file79_25805.pdf
7) Administrative Segregation in U.S. Prisons, Executive Summary National Institute of Justice https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/249750.pdf
8) The website
