The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected an appeal from a Texas prisoner who was convicted of robbery but argued officials violated the constitutional ban on “cruel and unusual” punishment by submitting him to spend 27 years in solitary confinement.
Dennis Wayne Hope, the inmate, appealed a lower court ruling that argued he did not show whether his prolonged stay in solitary confinement violated the Constitution’s 8th Amendment. Hope is still in prison but was released from solitary last year.
In an unsigned order, the court turned away Hope’s appeal. None of the justices issued a dissent.
After being convicted in 1990 of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon, he tried to escape prison in both 1990 and 1994 before he was sent to solitary confinement. Court papers that he submitted to the Supreme Court stated that he spent 22 to 24 hours per day in a small cell and suffered from “hallucinations and thoughts of suicide” as a result….