Jerald Kendrick, Cross-Appellants v. David Bland, Cross-Appellees, United States of America, Amicus Curiae

KRUPANSKY, Circuit Judge.

Jerald Kendrick and other incarcerates of the Kentucky State Penitentiary (KSP) at Eddyville, Kentucky, initiated this class action under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 on September 8, 1976 against various administrators, correctional officers and employees of KSP seeking, inter alia, injunctive and declaratory relief from conditions allegedly in violation of the Eighth Amendment’s proscription against cruel and unusual punishment, as applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. 1 Rhodes v. Chap man, 452 U.S. 337, 344-45, 101 S.Ct. 2392, 2398, 69 L.Ed.2d 59 (1981);…