Alexander v. Tippah County, Miss.

• Position: Unconstitutional conditions of confinement - Brief Article

U.S. Appeals Court

CONDITIONS

Alexander v. Tippah County, Miss., 351 F.3d 626 (5th Cir. 2003). Two state prisoners brought a [section] 1983 action alleging unconstitutional conditions of confinement. The district court dismissed the case and the appeals court affirmed. The appeals court held that the prisoners could not recover for mental or emotional damages as a result of their twenty-four hour placement in an unsanitary isolation cell, where the only claimed injury was nausea suffered by one prisoner that was not severe enough to warrant medical attention. The isolation cell, referred to as "the hole," was a sparse eight-by-eight concrete room without running water or a toilet. The only sanitary was...