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conditions of confinement

A Deliberate Indifference? The Rights of Incarcerated Individuals Under The New Mexico State Constitution

New Mexico Law Review (-2022)

Historically, to bring claims against government officials for unconstitutional prison conditions, incarcerated individuals in New Mexico had one vehicle for redress: Section 1983 claims based on the Federal Constitution. If an individual seeks relief via Section 1983 for prison conditions violations, courts apply the Federal Constitution’s Eighth Amendment “deliberate indifference” standard...

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State Constitutional Prohibitions against Unnecessary Rigor in Arrest and Confinement

(2025)

Clauses in five state constitutions prohibit treating people who are arrested or confined with “unnecessary rigor.” Decades ago, scholars concluded that history could teach us very little about these clauses. Now with the power of digitized records and text-recognition technology, this Article reveals that “unnecessary rigor” was a recognized phrase with deep...

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Solitary Confinement in the Young Republic

Harvard Law Review (2019)

America’s first system for punishing criminals with solitary confinement began at the Walnut Street Jail, an institution that stood right behind Independence Hall in Philadelphia. Historical and archival evidence from that facility demonstrates that the unchecked use of solitary confinement in today’s correctional facilities contravenes norms that prevailed in the Constitution’s founding...

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Extraordinary Punishment: Conditions of Confinement & Compassionate Release

Fordham Law Review (2024)

People experience severe forms of harm while incarcerated including medical neglect, prolonged solitary confinement, sexual and physical violence, and a host of other ills. But civil rights litigation under the Eighth Amendment—the most common vehicle through which people seek to redress these harms—presents significant practical and doctrinal barriers to incarcerated plaintiffs. Most...

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