Prison overcrowding

Hello Street Law Advocates,

Today we're going to deviate a bit from our normal programming discussing the constitutional rights of defendants in the criminal justice system and police. Instead, we're going to dive into prisons. Figuratively, of course.

As you may know, our federal prisons are severely short-staffed and overcrowded.[1] Despite these conditions, as noted in the U.S. Department of Justice’s fiscal year report for 2024, the population will expand to ten percent overcapacity this year.[2] Overcrowding in prisons is not new, but what if I told you that the conditions resulting from overcrowding may give rise to serious constitutional violations?
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The Eight Amendment to the Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment.[3] Specifically, it states:

"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted."

​While most think that this bar is limited to torture, the Supreme Court of the United States has extended the prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment to encompass an obligation to ensure humane conditions.[4]  In Estelle, the petitioner was injured during his mandated work, and he felt that the doctors did not provide prompt enough treatment.[5]In response to his claim, the Court held that the government must provide adequate medical care to inmates.[6] Further, the Court has upheld mandates that prison systems severely change their system and reduce inmate populations to satisfy these notions.[7]

Later, in Brown v. Plata, the Supreme Court of the United States sought to determine whether a Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLSRA) mandate that the California prison system substantially reduce its inmate population was constitutional.[8]At this time of this litigation, California had almost double the maximum capacity of inmates, similar to the overcrowding currently in federal prisons. Indecency and were not receiving adequate medical care or conditions because of overcrowding, leading to people succumbing to treatable ailments, an elevated suicide rate, and people being kept in crowded, small cages awaiting treatment.[9] The Court here determined that this was inconsistent with current notions of human decency and determined that these Eight Amendment violations could be remedied by a judicial mandate that the California system severely reduce the number of inmates.[10]

Currently, there is nothing in the U.S. Department of Justice’s report to suggest that federal inmates are being treated under the inhumane conditions as seen in Plata, but why should they have to wait before this issue is addressed? Isn’t the entire point of a constitutional right to prevent violations from happening? Federal inmates should not have to wait for the overcrowding to seriously affect their quality of life, for the prison population to be decreased, or for the facilities to be renovated for prison facilities to conform with what we consider as humane conditions. Yes, incarcerated persons have been temporarily stripped of their liberty due to their actions and resulting criminal convictions, but at no point do they lose their humanity.


[1] Shannon Heffernan, Federal Prisons Are Over Capacity – Yet Efforts to Ease Overcrowding Are Ending, The Marshall Proj. (Jan. 6, 2024), https://www.themarshallproject.org/2024/01/06/federal-prisons-release-staffing; Glenn Thrush, Short on Staff, Prisons Enlist Teachers and Case Managers as Guards, N.Y. Times (May 1, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/01/us/politics/prison-guards-teachers-staff.html.
[2] U.S. Dep’t Just. Fed. Prison Sys., FY 2024 PERFROMANCE BUDGET Congressional Submission (2024), https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-03/bop_se_fy_2024_pb_narrative_omb_cleared_3.23.2023.pdf.
[3] U.S. Const. amend. VIII.
[4] Estelle v. Gamble, 429 U.S. 97 (1976).
[5] Here, the court concluded that the treatment was adequate and not contrary to the petitioner’s constitutional rights. Id. 
[6] Id.
[7] Brown v. Plata, 563 U.S. 493 (2011).
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id