Five pretrial inmates of the New Haven Correctional Center in Connecticut filed a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the Connecticut Department of Corrections in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut. The plaintiffs alleged that their constitutional rights had been violated by the length of their confinement and by conditions of their confinement in administrative segregation cells which had no running water and only covered buckets which were infrequently emptied, and by the fact that the prisoners had no opportunity for exercise other than to walk up and down two flights of stairs twice a day to wash and empty their buckets.

On May 31, 1973, the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut (Judge Jon Newman) denied the plaintiffs' request for damages, but granted declaratory and injunctive relief, holding that the conditions of confinement highlighted by the plaintiffs constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution. Osborn v. Manson, 359 F.Supp. 1107 (D.Conn. 1973). We have no further information on the proceedings.

Kristen Sagar - 03/23/2006


compress summary