Wolfish v. Levi’s Empirical Analysis
573 F.2d 118 · 1978
Citation profile
70 federal appellate · 22 district · 8 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 190 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently January 2019 · most notably Bell v. Wolfish (1979), Hoptowit v. Ray (1982)
70 federal appellate · 22 district · 8 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.
Appellate journey
Relationships
Applies 18 U.S.C. § 4042 (Prison Camera Reform Act of 2021) · 18 U.S.C. § 4081 · 5 U.S.C. § 701 · 5 U.S.C. § 706
Relies on Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, Inc. v. Volpe · Griswold v. State of Connecticut · Rochin v. People of California · Bounds v. Smith · Procunier v. Martinez
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 190 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“adequate food, clothing, shelter, sanitation, medical care and personal safety.”
7 later decisions quote this exact passage“pretrial detainees may be subjected to only those 'restrictions and privations' which 'inhere in their confinement itself or which are justified by compelling necessities of jail administration.'”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage“In the close and restrictive atmosphere of a prison, first amendment guarantees taken for granted in society at large assume far greater significance. The simple opportunity to read a book or write a letter, whether it expresses political views or absent affections, supplies a vital link between the inmate and the outside world, and nourishes the prisoner’s mind despite the blankness and bleakness of his environment.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Wali v. Coughlin · Nichols v. Nix
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.