Cruel and unusual punishment in our prisons

by Thomas C. Fox

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I could not help but recall the quotation attributed to Fyodor Dostoevsky that "the degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons" when I saw the story of the Supreme Court's ruling on prison in California. Thank God for Justice Kennedy. How sad that the four least compassionate U. S. Supreme Court justices are Catholics.

Here's the Times report of the ruling:

Conditions in California’s overcrowded prisons are so bad that they violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, the Supreme Court ruled on Monday, ordering the state to reduce its prison population by more than 30,000 inmates.