Wilson v. Seiter: Less than Meets the Eye

Abstract

In 1991 the United States Supreme Court revisited the question of the general standards that are required in eighth amendment conditions-of-confinement litigation. In Wilson v. Seiter, the Court declared that, in an eighth amendment case in which an inmate claims that conditions of confinement constitute cruel and unusual punishment, the inmate must show that prison officials had a culpable state of mind -- deliberate indifference -- as a prerequisite to obtaining relief. In so holding, the Court rejected the arguments of both the petitioner and the United States Justice Department, as amicus curiae, that the objective conditions endured by prisoners, rather than the state of mind of prison officials, ought to determine whether indecent prison conditions constitute cruel and unusual punishment.