J. Issues of Importance to Pretrial Detainees

• Library: The Jailhouse Lawyer's Handbook (CCR) (2021 Ed.)

J. Issues of Importance to Pretrial Detainees

√ The Rule: Jail conditions must not be punitive or an exaggerated response to a security need. In practice, pretrial detainees have most of the same rights as convicted people. Below we describe some of the biggest differences.

Not everybody who is incarcerated in a prison or jail has been convicted. Many people are held in jail before their trial and are referred to in the Handbook as "pretrial detainees." As a practical matter, different legal standards for treatment of detainees don't usually lead to different outcomes for detainees and convicted prisoners. But sometimes the difference matters.

As you know from the above sections, the Eighth Amendment prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. This protection only applies to people who have already been convicted. Since detainees have not been convicted, they may not be punished at all until proven guilty. One legal result of this is that jail conditions for pretrial detainees are reviewed by courts under the Fifth or Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause, not the Eighth Amendment prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment.

The most important case for pretrial detainees is Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520 (1979), which was a challenge to the conditions of confinement in a federal jail in New York. In Bell, the Court held that jail conditions that amount to punishment of the detainee violate due process. The Court explained that there is a difference between punishment, which is unconstitutional, and regulations that, while unpleasant, have a valid administrative or security purpose. It held that regulations that are "reasonably related" to the institution's interest in maintaining jail security are not unconstitutional punishment, even if they cause discomfort. This is why detainees can be put into punitive segregation or SHU.

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