Prisoners too often suffer horrific abuses. Charles Murphy was left with a broken eye socket after correctional officer Robert Smith struck him in the eye, choked him and threw him into the metal toilet in his cell. Murphy was handcuffed during the attack. A nurse found him in his cell, stripped of his clothing. His eyesight was permanently damaged.
We are urging the Supreme Court that, when victims are subjected to this level of torture, a 1996 federal law does not require judges to reduce jury awards of victim compensation in such cases by 25%.