Law Clerk's Notes

U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson has ruled, in an order made public March 31, 2003, that prison mattresses on the floor is not cruel and unusual punishment. Due to overcrowding at Delaware's Gander Hill prison, some inmates were forced to sleep on a mattress on the floor. The U.S. District Court has ruled that forcing an inmate to sleep on a mattress on the floor does not violate inmates' constitutional protection to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.

By Kevin Mann