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Abstract: 

A recent Supreme Court decision, Brown v. Plata, 2011 U.S. LEXIS 4012 (May 23, 2011) , had its beginnings in two federal class action lawsuits, filed in 1990 and 2001, in which the plaintiffs argued that overcrowding in California’s prisons was the underlying cause of the constitutionally inadequate medical and mental health care of its inmates. Phillip David Schaub, a paraplegic since a car accident in 1984 when he was 21, pled guilty to a charge of felony sexual conduct involving a child under 13 and, in March 2003, began serving a 180-day sentence at the Olmstead County Adult Detention Center (ADC) in Minnesota. He was assigned to the work-release unit where inmates are required only to return to the facility overnight. They are also responsible for obtaining their own medical care while outside. Because of his serious medical conditions, including muscle atrophy, susceptibility to pressure sores because of difficulty in changing position, edema of the feet, and spasticity, Schaub was assigned to a handicapped cell.

Keywords: capacity, new construction, out-ofstate transfers, new hiring, public safety, pressure sore, edema, bone infection, Schaub v. VonWald

Affiliations:  1: Pace University School of Law Library.