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By JOHN R. EMSHWILLER And GARY FIELDS

October 31, 2011

A Supreme Court case could determine whether thousands of inmates in privately run
prisons have the same rights to sue in federal court as prisoners in facilities run by the
U.S. government.
The case, Minneci v. Pollard, involves a federal inmate who wants to sue his jailers for
damages over alleged violations of the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual
punishment. The prisoner claims he was painfully mistreated after an accident at a
for-profit prison, operating under contract for the U.S. Bureau of Prisons.
Lower federal courts have split on whether federal private-prison inmates can bring
such damage claims for alleged constitutional violations.
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"I think it's an important case," said

Steven Schwinn, an associate professor
at the John Marshall Law School in
Chicago who writes on constitutional-law
issues. The High Court decision could
affect other government contractors, as
well, he said. The ability to file federal
constitutional-damage claims is
potentially "a pretty powerful tool."
The justices could be reluctant to give
private inmates such an option because
the prisoners already have an ability to
file damage claims in state courts, some
legal observers said.

The High Court battle, said attorneys and legal activists, is one sign of tensions within
the federal prison system, which is operating under an increasingly heavy load. Since
1980, the federal prison population has grown some eightfold to more than 200,000,
nearly 40% above the capacity the system is designed to hold.
The federal prison system is facing "severe" overcrowding, Harley Lappin,
then-director of the Bureau of Prisons, told a congressional hearing in March. Mr.
Lappin, now an executive at a private prison operator, attributed the population surge
to federal criminal laws, often requiring long sentences, that were passed in recent
decades.
Uncle Sam has turned increasingly to for-profit prison companies to house inmates.
More than 26,000 federal prisoners are housed in private prisons, 10 times the level of
1990.
Federal inmates in private prisons are primarily illegal immigrants. Under contracts
with the Bureau of Prisons, the private-prison operators agree to meet certain
performance standards, including providing health care for inmates. However, inmates

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and their advocates contend private prisons routinely provide substandard care.
Suits are pending in federal courts in Texas and North Carolina alleging mistreatment
of inmates in private prisons. The claims range from the use of ineffective medicines to
save costs to the punishment of prisoners who raise legitimate complaints about their
medical care.
The fight in the Supreme Court revolves around how and where inmates can press
such claims.
The Supreme Court case, set for oral arguments on Tuesday, involves a federal-court
suit by Richard Pollard, who was an inmate at a California facility operated by Geo
Group Inc., of Boca Raton, Fla. After Mr. Pollard accidentally fractured his elbows,
Geo employees denied him adequate medical care and forced him to take actions,
including wearing heavy arm shackles, that caused "tremendous and unnecessary
pain," according to his Supreme Court filing.
The filing argued that federal prisoners in a private prison should have the same right
as other federal prisoners to seek damages in federal court for violations of their
constitutional rights.
However, a High Court filing by now-former Geo employees being sued argued that
private prison inmates' ability to seek damages in state courts isn't an option for
inmates in government-run facilities. Geo was dismissed from the Pollard lawsuit by a
lower court but is supporting the position of its employees.
Mr. Pollard's attorneys contend state-law remedies aren't adequate to protect
constitutional rights. A Geo spokesman said the company doesn't comment on
continuing litigation.
Jess Bravin contributed
to this article.
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