Wycoff v. Brewer’s Empirical Analysis
572 F.2d 1260 · 1978
Citation profile
42 federal appellate · 3 district · 5 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 69 later decisions — most recently May 2018 · most notably Martin v. Sargent (1985), Wycoff v. Menke (1985)
42 federal appellate · 3 district · 5 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Wood v. Strickland · Procunier v. Martinez · Procunier v. Navarette · Finney v. Arkansas Board of Correction · Kelly v. Brewer
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 69 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“... are frequently without merit and may be maliciously motivated. An inmate may use a suit or a threat of a suit as a lever to obtain favorable treatment or a desirable work assignment. Since § 1983 suits are usually prosecuted in forma pauperis, and since prison officials may not constitutionally retaliate against a convict for invoking his rights of access to the courts, inmates have essentially nothing to lose, including time, by prosecuting such actions, and they may gain something even if it is nothing but the satisfaction of harassing, inconveniencing and annoying those who have them in charge.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“It must be realized, however, that prison administrators are required to deal in a constitutional manner with convicts who are violent and unruly as well as with those whose conduct is exemplary or at least peaceful. And while prison officials must have some latitude in imposing conditions reasonably necessary to control a prisoner’s behavior, the contributory fault of an inmate does not necessarily deprive him of his right to relief from deprivations of constitutional dimension.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Friends v. Moore“completely nude; the cell was or it could be darkened; the inmate had no bedding or cover. While the cell contained a sink and a commode, in some circumstances, the inmate was not provided with toilet articles or toilet paper.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Johnson v. Williams
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.