Over the objections of its three liberal justices, the Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition from a prisoner confined for years without the chance to exercise outside his cell.
Over the objections of its three liberal justices, the Supreme Court on Monday denied a petition from a prisoner confined for years without the chance to exercise outside his cell.
They were denying him basic living conditions common to large zoo animals. If you are so profoundly mentally ill that you can’t be allowed to spend time in a slightly larger enclosure, it seems highly unlikely that you are mentally competent enough to be convicted in the first place.
The justification for this is also pathetically flimsy and should be easily rejected with just a moments thought.
Exercise has been deemed a necessity which cannot be denied to prisoners. He was kept in solitary without being allowed out for 3 years, but it’s OK because it was many small punishments served back to back without relief, not one big punishment. So, if we can deny necessities for extended periods of time, that means we can also withhold food or water for years at a time, as long we’re doing it by stacking punishments and not just starving someone to death over a single incident.
I disagree there, by all accounts his mental health deteriorated in prison, not before. I mean, I’m sure he was a bit fucked up before, but solitary is what had him smearing shit all over himself and his cell.