As an inmate at an upstate New York prison, then-18-year-old Aaron Willey spent over six weeks "behind a Plexiglas shield in [a] cell with [a] broken toilet" and another two weeks in an "unsanitary cell where he was kept naked." Both places smelled strongly of urine and feces and at one point, prison guards "forced him to inhale his own excrement."
He claims that prison officials harassed him physically and mentally "because he refused to provide false information about another inmate suspected of drug smuggling." He attributes his later suicide attempt to the humiliation and pain he suffered while in prison. Now, he's pursuing civil action against Wende Correctional Facility, claiming that prison officials violated the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
A federal district court judge in Rochester, New York, somehow found Willey's experience to be within the boundaries of acceptable treatment by the state. He ruled for the prison officials, concluding that "the exact length of Willey's exposures was unclear, and that he did not claim he was made ill or that waste overflowed from the toilet."
But last Friday a federal appeals court overruled that decision and ruled for Willey, concluding that he has the right to bring civil claims against the prison officials. According to Reuters:
Chief Judge Robert Katzmann said no minimum duration or "level of grotesquerie" is required before unsanitary confinement conditions can violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment. He also said that the exposure's "qualitative offense to a prisoner's dignity should be given due consideration."
The appeals court also revived several of Willey's other claims, and returned the case to the lower court.
However, while the victory gives Willey the opportunity to pursue civil claims, it does not mean he has won his case, nor does it mean that the prison officials have been brought to justice.
Willey's case, like so many others, reveals the extent of sadistic behavior by prison officials all over the nation. As we grapple with our country's tradition of mass incarceration, we must also deal with the unacceptable conditions of our prisons, including those prison officials who are flagrantly inhumane. In order to do this, we must be aware of what is happening in courts across the nation when it comes to unjust imprisonment.
As Willey's lawyer stated, this decision shows "the key role that federal courts have in overseeing prisoner litigation claims related to confinement conditions, due process rights and treatment by corrections authorities."