Prison mattresses on floor are not cruel, judge rules

Gander Hill inmates lose constitutional protections suit

By MARY ALLEN
Staff reporter
04/01/2003

Forcing Gander Hill prison inmates to sleep on mattresses on the floor is not ideal but does not violate their constitutional protections from cruel and unusual punishment, a federal judge ruled in an order made public Monday.
Prison overcrowding is a fact of life and as long as inmates are receiving adequate food, shelter and clothing, forcing them to sleep on the floor is not unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge Sue L. Robinson decided in a lawsuit filed against the Delaware Department of Correction, Commissioner Stanley Taylor and Gander Hill Warden Raphael Williams.
The lawsuit was filed in May 2000 by inmate Gregory Hubbard on behalf of himself and 36 other inmates. They charged that three inmates were being kept in cells designed for one, with one inmate having to sleep on a mattress on the floor. Doing so in a pretrial setting violated their federal due-process rights, the inmates maintained.
Robinson ruled the matter could be decided by weighing arguments on the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. Her decision that the Gander Hill setup is legal is in line with previous rulings in cases brought before the Wilmington court.
"We're certainly pleased," said Deputy Attorney General Richard W. Hubbard, the attorney who defended the lawsuit. He is not related to the inmate who sued.
Attorney Paul E. Crawford, who was appointed by the court in November 2001 to represent the inmates, had argued that previous decisions from federal courts in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, which are in the same federal appeals circuit as Delaware, found prison conditions similar to those at Gander Hill were unconstitutional. But Robinson sided with a state argument that noted those cases involved circumstances in which officials could have improved conditions - by using cots, for instance - but did not.
Prison spokeswoman Beth Welch said Monday that correction officials do not like having three inmates to a cell and do what they can to improve those circumstances. Officials added 2,500 beds to state facilities during the past five years, she said.
Gander Hill prison housed 1,506 inmates Monday. The operating capacity is 1,180.
Reach Mary Allen at 324-2794 or mallen@delawareonline.com.