Cruel and unusual punishment is unconstitutional– it says so in the Eighth Amendment.
Do prisons have the right to deny prisoners proper sleep?
In the midst of his battle with the Texas prison system over sleep deprivation, a life-sentenced prisoner, Michael Garrett, has resolved to finish online legal school.
More than ten years ago, Michael Garrett, 54, who has been incarcerated since 1994, filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) alleging that the agency violated his rights to ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ by ransacking his prison cells.
According to Garrett, he barely gets four hours of sleep per night due to the prison’s routine of security inspections.
At 10:30 p.m., he and another convict are locked up in their nine-by-5-foot cell for the night.
He describes the guys going to their cells and getting into bed, only to be greeted by the glare of corridor lights, the crash of heavy doors and gates, and the sound of neighbors talking, shouting, or tuning in to radios.
One thing that the guards have to do is wake up the men around 1 a.m. so they can do their headcount.
If they manage to get any rest after that, they will be roused at 2 a.m. for breakfast, and the remainder of the day will be filled with appointments, check-ins, and programming.
Garrett claims that he is now experiencing seizures, high blood pressure, and headaches due to the continuous nighttime disruptions.
He decided to take matters into his own hands by enrolling in a string of online legal seminars in the vain hope that he might persuade the jail to provide him with six hours of planned sleep time per night.
In 2013, he took legal action against the TDCJ for the first time, representing himself.
Despite the assistance of a civil attorney in the end, Garrett was unsuccessful on three occasions in front of federal district court judges.
Surprisingly, the convicted felon has triumphed on appeal three times, even convincing the traditionally conservative Fifth Circuit to rule in his favor.
Veterans in the legal field have been amazed by Garret’s extensive understanding of the law.
A right to sleep in prison, however, is not guaranteed by the constitution, according to the court. The courts have also ruled that he cannot establish a causal relationship between his sleep deprivation and his medical problems.
