Judge Rules Hogtying Inmates Cruel, Unusual

Hogtying five naked, shackled inmates after a deadly prison riot in 1991 was an unprecedented violation of the Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, a federal judge ruled Monday.

“This hogtying episode clearly violated contemporary standards of decency,” U.S. District Charles Lovell said in finding eight state officials liable in dozens of lawsuits filed against the state.

John Maynard, a lawyer for five of the defendants, said he hasn’t decided whether to appeal. The state had said the restraints were necessary to prevent a second riot and that a court should not second-guess its decision.

But Lovell wrote, “Simply put, hogtying the plaintiffs and leaving them naked in the bare cells for hours at a time strongly evidences an intent to punish and to inflict pain.”

The Sept. 21, 1991, riot killed five inmates at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge.

Eighteen days later, five prisoners suspected of trying to incite a second riot were stripped naked, hogtied with handcuffs and chains and made to lie naked on bare concrete floors or on metal bunks without mattresses, Lovell said. , DataTimes