''Lee v. Washington'', 390 U.S. 333 (1968), is a
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
decision that upheld an appeals court decision to forbid segregation of public
prison
A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...
s.
Background
The state of
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...
segregated its jails, juvenile jails, and prisons based on race. White prisoners were housed separately from African-American prisoners. In 1966,
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...
leader
Charles Morgan, Jr.
Charles "Chuck" Morgan Jr. (March 11, 1930 – January 8, 2009) was an Americans, American civil rights attorney from Alabama who played a key role in establishing the principle of "one man, one vote" in the Supreme Court of the United States ...
filed suit against Alabama, asking that the jails and prisons be desegregated. This was 12 years after the landmark Supreme Court case ''
Brown v. Board of Education'' which outlawed school segregation.
The
found in favor of the prisoners, and ordered Alabama to desegregate its jails and prisons.
Alabama had argued that segregation was necessary in order to maintain security and minimize violence, but the Appeals court held that "this Court can conceive of no consideration of prison security or discipline which will sustain the constitutionality of state statutes that on their face require complete and permanent segregation of the races in all the Alabama penal facilities. We recognize that there is merit in the contention that in some isolated instances prison security and discipline necessitates segregation of the races for a limited period. However, recognition of such instances does nothing to bolster the statutes or the general practice that requires or permits prison or jail officials to separate the races arbitrarily. Such statutes and practices must be declared unconstitutional in light of the clear principles controlling."
Opinion of the Court
Alabama appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld the Appeals court decision in a very brief ''
per curiam'' opinion. Justices Black, Harlan, and Stewart collectively wrote a concurring opinion in which they explicitly say that "prison authorities have the right, acting in good faith and in particularized circumstances, to take into account racial tensions in maintaining security, discipline, and good order in prisons and jails."
See also
* ''
Brown v. Board of Education''
References
External links
*
* {{caselaw source
, case=''Lee v. Washington'', {{ussc, 390, 333, 1968, el=no
, justia=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/390/333/
, loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep390/usrep390333/usrep390333.pdf
, oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/1967/75
1968 in United States case law
African-American history of Alabama
American Civil Liberties Union litigation
Civil rights movement case law
Penal system in Alabama
United States First Amendment case law
United States Fourteenth Amendment case law
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Warren Court
United States racial desegregation case law