Federal judges involved in state prison systems AGAIN.

Once again, it appears that federal courts are interfering in sentencing of prisoners....after they have been sentenced.

In the late 1970s, early 1980s, prisoner lawsuits got completely out of control resulting in consent decrees that put virtual revolving doors onto several state prison systems. Most notably in Texas (see the Ruiz case). The prisoners rights lobby utilized the cruel and unusual punishment clause to claim that overcrowding in state prisons was cruel and unusual punishment.

Interestingly enough, however, with higher and higher numbers of released prisoners out on the streets, the crime rates began to skyrocket as well. The consent decrees from the federal judges became quite unpopular and even cause the eye of a couple of sharp Congressmen who passed relatively tough truth-in-sentencing laws that (should have) ensured that the consent-decree-imposed-caps on prison populations wouldn't automatically require that prisoners be released to fall below the "acceptable" capacity. Ah, the awesome coercive power of one man in a black robe with a federal judge's gavel. (Truth be known, there are some problems creeping up again with out-of-control federal judges and prison systems and this story is just one of them.....but we'll discuss that another day....)

Friends, this article in the NYT is terribly important because it shows exactly how much power the federal judiciary has -- even over a state-run prison system.

And this article did not happen in a vacuum. We are supposed to feel sorry for the little darlings because......why? The big bad serial killer has a fear of needles? Doesn't go to sleep fast enough before he dies? Feels a moment, an instant of pain?

The prisoners rights lobby is at it again, this time claiming how awful lethal injection is. Precisely how awful were the crimes endured by the victims that got the accused strapped into the death gurney in the first place? Did they have an entire lobby working to ensure that their deaths or torments were less unpleasant?

At what point will the Left decide that saving the innocent is a great deal more important than saving the guilty?