NCJ Number
101818
Journal
Yale Law Journal Volume: 94 Issue: 5 Dated: (April 1985) Pages: 1182-1206
Date Published
1985
Length
25 pages
Annotation
Despite courts' recognition that prison inmates retain their equal protection rights, no court has subjected the segregation of male and female inmates to the level of review mandated by the Constitution.
Abstract
Craig v. Boren (1976) sets forth an intermediate level of judicial review that requires the government to establish that a gender classification has an important purpose and that the relationship between purpose and classification is substantial. Regarding inmate segregation by sex, however, the courts have not examined the purposes behind such segregation and whether or not segregation is essential to the attainment of those purposes. Courts have instead focused on the provision of specific services, using a weak standard of review which requires only that segregated prisons provide 'parity of treatment' to male and female prisoners. The safety of women inmates is the only legitimate objection to the desegregation remedy. The U.S. Constitution requires, however, that the protection of the small number of women whose safety might be threatened in integrated prisons be achieved through less restrictive alternatives than segregation by sex. 115 footnotes.