Filed Date: 1966
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Sometime prior to 1967, an inmate at the Atmore Prison Farm in Alabama filed a pro se lawsuit 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the Alabama Department of Corrections in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. The plaintiff asked the court for injunctive relief, alleging that the defendants had violated his constitutional rights by segregating the inmates by race and subjecting the black inmates to inferior conditions of confinement than the other inmates.
On March 6, 1967, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama (Judge Virgil Pittman) dismissed the petition without prejudice, ruling that a December 12, 1966 order of the Middle District of Alabama in the case of Washington v. Lee, 263 F.Supp. 327 (M.D.Ala. 1966), had set forth clearly the right of black citizens not to be subjected to racial distinctions in the state penal system. That case had been a class action, and the court in this case found the plaintiff to be a member of that class.
Meanwhile, the plaintiff in this case appealed the district court's dismissal of his lawsuit. On July 1, 1968, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Judges John Cooper Godbold, John Milton Bryan Simpson, and William Allen McRae) reversed the district court's dismissal and remanded the case, finding that some of the plaintiff's complaints were not addressed by the Washington order and directing the district court to allow the plaintiff to bring his lawsuit. Beard v. Lee, 396 F.2d 749 (5th Cir. 1968).
On January 24, 1969, the district court (Judge Daniel Holcombe Thomas) granted in part and dismissed in part the plaintiff's request for injunctive relief, ordering the defendants to discontinue certain disciplinary practices and to institute specific conditions and treatment. We have no further information on the proceedings in this case.
Summary Authors
Kristen Sagar (9/10/2006)
Washington v. Lee, Middle District of Alabama (1966)
Coleman, James Plemon (Louisiana)
Godbold, John Cooper (Louisiana)
Gallion, MacDonald (Alabama)
Hall, Leslie (Alabama)
Madison, Gordon (Alabama)
Coleman, James Plemon (Louisiana)
Godbold, John Cooper (Louisiana)
McRae, William Allan Jr. (Louisiana)
Simpson, John Milton Bryan (Florida)
Wisdom, John Minor (Louisiana)
Last updated Jan. 24, 2024, 3 a.m.
Docket sheet not available via the Clearinghouse.State / Territory: Alabama
Case Type(s):
Key Dates
Filing Date: 1966
Case Ongoing: Perhaps, but long-dormant
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
Convict alleging unconstitutional treatment of prisoners at state prison
Plaintiff Type(s):
Public Interest Lawyer: No
Filed Pro Se: Yes
Class Action Sought: No
Class Action Outcome: Not sought
Defendants
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Constitutional Clause(s):
Available Documents:
Outcome
Prevailing Party: Plaintiff
Nature of Relief:
Injunction / Injunctive-like Settlement
Source of Relief:
Order Duration: 1969 - 0
Issues
General:
Sanitation / living conditions
Discrimination-basis:
Type of Facility: