Thornburgh v. Abbott

*420Justice Stevens, with whom Justice Brennan and Justice Marshall join,

concurring in part and dissenting in part.

An article in Labyrinth, a magazine published by the Committee for Prisoner Humanity & Justice, began as follows:

“In January 1975, William Lowe, a black prisoner at the United States Penitentiary at Terre Haute, Indiana died of asthma. ... In August 1975, Joseph (Yusef) Jones, Jr., a black prisoner at the U. S. Penitentiary, Terre Haute, IN. died of asthma.

“. . . The prison infirmary at that time had only one respirator[,] known to be inoperative in January 1975 when William Lowe…