Reform and Regret: The Story of Federal Judicial Involvement in the Alabama Prison System

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Description

When the deplorable conditions in Alabama’s prisons were revealed at trial in 1975, Pass judgement on Frank Johnson declared the prison system as an entire to constitute cruel and abnormal punishment in violation of the eighth amendment. He then issued an elaborate decree specifying improvements that should be made to satisfy constitutional standards. On this study, Larry W. Yackle describes the campaign to succeed in prison reform in Alabama through constitutional litigation within the federal courts and surveys the process that produced Johnson’s decree, and subsequent efforts to put into effect his order within the face of bureaucratic inertia, administrative incompetence, and political demagogy. A decade later, the prisons showed significant physical improvements, but Alabama’s resistance to progressive penal policies remained intact and impeded lasting change. Covering the lawyers’ strategies, Pass judgement on Johnson’s creative actions, and the machinations of state and federal officials including the Department of Justice under President Ronald Reagan, this book conveys the frustrating yet effective effort at prison litigation and offers vital lessons for other proponents of penal reform around the country.

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