Crain v. Bordenkircher

This proceeding originated in 1981 when inmates at the West Virginia Penitentiary (WVP) at Moundsville filed habeas corpus petitions requesting relief from their conditions of confinement, which they alleged constituted cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and Article III, Section 5 of the West Virginia Constitution. These petitions were consolidated, and this Court appointed the Honorable Arthur M. Recht, Judge of the First Judicial Circuit, to conduct a hearing on this issue.

Following several hearings, the circuit court…