Hutto v. Finney

Arkansas inmates (plaintiffs) sued in 1969 over jail conditions the district court described as "a dark and evil world completely alien to the free world," including overcrowding (1,000, later 1,500 inmates), punitive isolation cells housing multiple prisoners in windowless 8-by-10 spaces with only a toilet flushable from outside and diets under 1,000 calories daily. After years of hearings, ordered improvements, and continued deterioration — by 1976 conditions had worsened, with vandalized isolation cells, months-long isolation stays, rampant inmate violence, and guards using nightsticks and mace — the district court entered an injunction ending the low-calorie diet, capping cell occupancy, requiring a bunk per cell, and limiting any isolation sentence to 30 days.