Describe and explain four legal cases which prisoners within the U. S. Have brought in which they claimed to have suffered a violation or violations of their Eighth Amendment rights.

The Eight Amendment instates and actuates the right of prisoners to restrain Authorities from meting our cruel and or unusual punishment on them.

Cruel and unusual punishment is that which involves the use of excessive force and or brutality, exposure to unsanitary, dangerous or overly restrictive conditions for prisoners.

Some U. S. 8th Amendment cases are:

1)

When in 1972, Furman appealed against the state of Georgia, concerning the death sentence awarded against her, the Supreme Court agreed that the death penalty violated the 8th Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishments. The case went on to become a groundbreaking case that altered the way the United States administered the death penalty going forward.

2)

In United States v. Salerno, 1987 case, Salerno had challenged the government, on the grounds that the government violated his rights under the 8th amendment to be bailed out after he was detained before trial. It was clarified and ruled that the Excessive Bail Clause, which was foundational to the appellant's argument, does not require the government to grant bail every-time.

The Bail Reform Act allows for the detention of people until their trial in the federal court if it could demonstrate that it was a high risk to allow the individual loose in the community. The government had proven that Anthonio Salerno was a high-risk detainee because he was a member of the mafia who had broken several other laws especially the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

The case was finally put to rest when the court explained that the only restriction imposed by the 8th Amendment on bail is that "the government's proposed terms of detention or release must not be, with respect to the offence, too harsh or excessive.

3)

In the state of Florida in 2010, Terrance Jamar Graham was convicted as an adult and sentenced to prison without parole for life, though he was only 17 year. His offence was determined as armed burglary with assault and battery.

At the appeal, the Supreme Court ruled that a life sentence without the possibility of parole violated the 8th Amendment if the defendant was a minor.

According to the court, minors were supposed to be held to a different standard than adults because they were more delinquent and that minors ought to be allowed to be rehabilitated. The Supreme Court posited that, if the case was that of Murder, the sentence would have been justified.

4)

The next case is that which relates to a Corporation.

In 1909, Waters-Pierce Oil Co. was sued by Texas for violating its anti-trust law. The ruling required the corporation, as punishment, to pay $5,000 for each of the days the alleged breaking of the law occurred. The total number of days for which Waters-Pierce was accused of was over 300 days, bringing the fine to over 1.6 million U. S. dollars.

In a counter, Waters-Pierce stood on the requirement of the Excessive Fines Clause of the 8th Amendment to say that his fines were unjustified.

The court replied with a counter which held that the government can only seize such an amount of property only if they followed due procedure.

It is important to note that during the period in which the company was alleged to have violated the antitrust law, it had made lots of profit and grown to own about 4 Million US dollars of assets.

Cheers!