Jackson v. Bishop was a case decided in 1968 on the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals of the United States by then-judge Harry Blackmun

Harry Blackmun

Harold Andrew Blackmun was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1970 until 1994. He is best known as the author of Roe v. Wade.- Early years and professional career :...

. It abolished corporal punishment

Corporal punishment

Corporal punishment is a form of physical punishment that involves the deliberate infliction of pain as retribution for an offence, or for the purpose of disciplining or reforming a wrongdoer, or to deter attitudes or behaviour deemed unacceptable...

 in the Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

 prison system.

Issue

The issue in the case was how to apply the Eighth Amendment's

Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the United States Bill of Rights which prohibits the federal government from imposing excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishments. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that this amendment's Cruel and Unusual...

 prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment

Cruel and unusual punishment

Cruel and unusual punishment is a phrase describing criminal punishment which is considered unacceptable due to the suffering or humiliation it inflicts on the condemned person...

to the conditions within a prison.

Background

Arkansas rules authorized prison officials to beat inmates with a five-foot leather strap known as a "bull hide." An earlier suit had resulted in a decision permitting the use of the strap, provided that "appropriate safeguards" were in place.

Blackmun's writings

Few precedents existed for applying the Eighth Amendment to prison conditions. In pre-opinion writings, Blackmun wrote that constitutional standards evolve, as opposed to remaining static; he noted that nearly every state had abandoned corporal punishment in prison. Blackmun supported banning corporal punishment in prisons entirely.

Opinion

Blackmun held that use of the strap in question is punishment that "runs afoul" of the Eighth Amendment. He wrote that "any so-called safeguard is entirely unworkable" and that the strap "is abhorrent to public opinion."

Reception

Blackmun's opinion received favorable notice from both the judicial and public community.