David R. Ruiz, United States of America, Intervenor-Appellee v. W. J. Estelle, Jr.

ALVIN B. RUBIN, Circuit Judge:

“There is no iron curtain drawn between the Constitution and the prisons of this country.” 1 When the remedial powers of a federal court are invoked to protect the constitutional rights of inmates, the court may not take a “hands-off” approach. 2

The duty to protect inmates’ constitutional rights, however, does not confer the power to manage prisons, for which courts are ill-equipped, 3 or the capacity to second-guess prison administrators. 4 Federal courts should not, “in the name of the Constitution, become ... enmeshed in the minutiae of prison operations.” 5…