https://www.texasobserver.org/criminal-justice-prison-sleep-tdcj-sleep-deprivation-lawsuit/
"The unit’s schedule—packed with programming, check-ins, and appointments on a 24-hour basis—leaves only three and a half hours for sleep, only two and a half uninterrupted, according to court documents in a long-running lawsuit against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ)."
2.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep? That is fucking bananas. And a human rights violation. And a form of torture. Seems like a slam dunk eighth amendment case. But of course not:
"His case went first to the Southern District of Texas in Corpus Christi. Initially Magistrate Judge B. Janice Ellington said in 2013 that Garrett had 'no constitutional right to a predetermined number of hours of uninterrupted sleep' and that he would have to prove he suffered harm from sleep deprivation."
What kind of dipshit judge thinks 2.5 hours of uninterrupted sleep isn't harmful?
"Now the Fifth Circuit has stepped in to say that the lower courts had repeatedly unfairly ruled that Garrett had to prove actual harm caused by the lack of sleep. Instead, the court said, he only had to prove that the prison conditions posed a substantial risk to incarcerated people’s health."
Well that's a ray of fucking sanity.
"There, they previewed findings from a forthcoming report entitled, 'The Nightmare of Sleep in Prison.' Among their recommendations: increasing dedicated sleep time. They define a healthy amount as at least four 90-minute cycles of uninterrupted sleep, or at least six hours."
6 hours of sleep ain't much better! Whatever happened to 8 for sleep, 8 for work, 8 for what we will?
The depravity of the criminal justice system knows no bounds.
#tx #texas #txpol #CriminalJustice #TexasObserver @TexasObserver
