skip to Main Content
Name: Brown v. Plata
Case #: 09-1233
Court: US Supreme Court
District USSup
Opinion Date: 05/23/2011
Subsequent History: 131 S.Ct. 1910; 179 L.Ed.2d 969
Summary

A federal three-judge panel ruling to reduce the state prison population to 137% of capacity is upheld. The medical and mental health care provided in California’s prisons falls below the standard of decency inherent in the Eighth Amendment. The extensive and ongoing constitutional violation cannot be remedied without a reduction in overcrowding. The state is ordered to implement the order without further delay.