Punch and Jurists

Brown v. Plata, No. 13A57 (U.S. Supreme Court) (570 U.S. 938; 134 S.Ct. 1) (August 2, 2013) (Per Curiam) by For the second time in past two years, the Supreme Court has intervened in the California’s decades’ long prison overcrowding crisis. Two years ago in its landmark decision in Brown …

Coleman v. Brown, No. Civ. S-90-520 LKK/JFM (PC) (E.D.Cal.) (922 F.Supp.2d 1004) (April 11, 2013) (Judge Lawrence K. Karlton) by Here the Court rejected California’s bid to end federal control over the state prison system’s mental health system, after concluding that “systemic failures persist” in prison mental health care. Coleman …

Brown v. Plata, No. 09-1233 (U.S. Supreme Court) (563 U.S. 493; 131 S.Ct. 1910) (May 23, 2011) (Justice Kennedy) by Here a sharply divided Court affirmed a lower court order directing California to reduce its prison population to 137% of design capacity to remedy systemic constitutional violations resulting from the …

Coleman v. Schwarzenegger, No. Civ. S-90-0520 LKK JFM (E.D.Cal.) (2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 118210) (November 23, 2009) (Per Curiam) by For years it has been an open secret that the prison system in the State of California has been in a “state of emergency” due to serious overcrowding. Yet, despite …

Coleman v. Schwarzenegger, No. Civ. S-90-0520 LKK JFM (E.D.Cal.) (922 F.Supp.2d 882) (August 4, 2009) (Judge Stephen Reinhardt) by Finding the California prison system was in a "state of emergency" and unable to provide constitutionally inadequate health care to its inmates, a special three-judge panel ordered the State to reduce …

Plata v. Schwarzenegger, No. 08-17412 (9th Cir.) (560 F.3d 976) (March 25, 2009) (Judge Jr. William C. Canby) by Plata v. Schwarzenegger, 560 F.3d 976 (9th Cir. Mar. 25, 2009) (Judge Canby) Plata v. Schwarzenegger, No. CV 01-1351 THE (N.D.Cal. Mar. 24, 2009) (Judge Henderson) We recently noted a case …

Plata v. Schwarzenegger, No. C01-1351TEH (N.D.Cal.) (2005 U.S. Dist. LEXIX 8878) (May 10, 2005) (Judge Thelton E. Henderson) by Judge Thelton E. Henderson has never been bashful about exposing and condemning inhuman and unacceptable conditions in the state prisons in California. His brilliant 138-page decision in Madrid v. Gomez, 889 …