Political Quotes

“Stemming the tide of frivolous prisoner lawsuits is certainly an important goal. Our courts are flooded with lawsuits brought by prisoners. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts reported that in fiscal year 1994, 39,100 Federal and State prisoner civil rights cases were filed in Federal court. This volume of cases drains precious court resources, further burdening an already overburdened court system. But in solving these problems, we must not lose sight of the fact that some of these lawsuits have merit--some prisoners' rights are violated--some prisons are terribly overcrowded. In one case, for example, children in a severely overcrowded juvenile detention center in Pennsylvania--a facility that was at 160 percent of capacity--were beaten by staff--sometimes with chains and other objects. These problems were not resolved until a court order was entered.--(Santiago versus City of Philadelphia.) In a recent case right here in the District of Columbia, Judge June L. Green found that correctional officers had routinely sexually assaulted women prisoners--one had raped a woman prisoner, another had forced a prisoner to perform oral sex.”