In 1980, an inmate at the Pontiac Correctional Center (Pontiac), a maximum security state penitentiary located in Pontiac, Illinois, filed this class action civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois, alleging unconstitutional overcrowded conditions and double celling practices. Plaintiff sought declaratory and injunctive relief, as well as class certification.

The District Court (Judge Harold Albert Baker, J) certified the case as a class action on October 30, 1980. The class was defined as: "All present and future inmates of the Pontiac Correctional Center who are, have been, or will be punished for refusing to accept a double cell."

The case proceeded to trial before the District Court on April 14, 1981. Twenty-three witnesses testified over a period of nine days of trial. Following the trial, the District Court issued its Findings Of Fact, Conclusions of Law, Memorandum Opinion and Final Order. The Court held that the double celling conditions at Pontiac Correctional Center constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment. The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) was ordered to submit a plan to the court within 6- days to remedy the overcrowded conditions at the Pontiac Correctional Center at the earliest date possible by moving to single occupancy celling. Smith v. Fairman, 528 F.Supp. 118 (C.D.Il.1981). The IDOC appealed.

The Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals (Circuit Judge Bauer) reversed and held that the institutional practice of housing two prisoners in a single cell did not violate the Eighth Amendment. Smith V. Fairman, 690 F.2d 122 (1982), cert, denied, 103 S.Ct. 2125 (1983).

We have no further information on this case.

Dan Dalton - 03/01/2007


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