Discuss court cases that have dealt with cruel and unusual punishment and describe their results.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Varies, but should reference the cases of Rhodes v. Chapman, Estelle v. Gamble, Hutto v. Finney, and Farmer v. Brennan, Warden et al. and explain the findings in each case with regard to cruel and unusual punishment. In 1981, the Supreme Court found in Rhodes v. Chapman that "double celling" inmates was not per se cruel and unusual punishment. In other cases, such as Estelle v. Gamble and Hutto v. Finney, the court found that deliberate indifference to the provision of medical care or "minimum civilized measures of life's necessities" might singly or in combination violate the Eighth Amendment. In Estelle v. Gamble, a Texas prisoner filed a civil rights complaint against several prison officials, claiming that the officials failed to provide adequate medical care after he was injured while performing a prison work assignment. In Hutto v. Finney, the court heard claims by Arkansas prison inmates that prison conditions violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. In a case involving a transsexual inmate awaiting gender-altering surgery, the court in Farmer v. Brennan, Warden et al. found that for practices to be considered violations of the Eighth Amendment, it had to be shown that corrections officials possessed specific knowledge that the inmate faced substantial risk of serious harm and that the officials disregarded the risk.