Michael Garrett had been incarcerated since 1994 and had suffered nightly, unable to get any real rest for nearly 20 years before he decided to sue the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the Texas Observer reports. More than a decade ago, in March 2013, Garrett took a stance, when he filed a federal lawsuit against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice while he was housed at the McConnell Unit in South Texas. In his lawsuit, he contended that the prison’s 24-hour schedule was so packed and security checks so frequent that people inside were only being allowed about four hours of interrupted sleep per night. Garrett, 54, says that the prolonged sleep deprivation is damaging his health and violates the constitution’s Eighth Amendment, which protect against cruel and unusual punishment.
Initially, Garrett represented himself. He later won the support of a civil attorney. And recently, he managed to get the conservative Fifth Circuit to side with him for a third time, something one of his lawyers said must be “some sort of record.” Three times, federal district court judges ruled against Garrett, saying there was no constitutional right to sleep in prison and that he couldn’t prove his medical conditions were caused by sleep deprivation or that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice was “intentionally” or “wantonly” withholding sleep from people inside. And three times, the Fifth Circuit reversed these decisions. The courts, circuit judges repeatedly declared, couldn’t unfairly dismiss Garrett’s concerns.