View source for Lee v. Washington

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox SCOTUS case
| Litigants=Lee v. Washington
| ArgueDate=November 7
| ArgueYear=1967
| DecideDate=March 11
| DecideYear=1968
| FullName=Lee, Commissioner of Corrections of Alabama, et al. v. Washington, et al.
| USVol=390
| USPage=333
| ParallelCitations=88 S. Ct. 994; 19 [[L. Ed. 2d]] 1212; 1968 [[U.S. LEXIS]] 2223
| Prior=''Washington v. Lee'', 263 [[F. Supp.]] [https://www.leagle.com/decision/1966590263fsupp3271521.xml 327] ([[N.D. Ala.]] 1966)
| Subsequent=
| Holding= State jails and prisons may not segregate prisoners based on race.
| PerCuriam=yes
| Concurrence=Black, Harlan, and Stewart
| LawsApplied=[[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|U.S. Const. amend. XIV]]
}}

'''''Lee v. Washington''''', 390 U.S. 333 (1968), is a [[United States Supreme Court]] decision that upheld an appeals court decision to forbid segregation of public [[prison]]s.<ref>{{ussc|name=Lee v. Washington|volume=390|page=333|pin=|year=1968}}.</ref>

==Background==
The state of [[Alabama]] segregated its jails, juvenile jails, and prisons based on race.  White prisoners were housed separately from African-American prisoners.  In 1966, [[American Civil Liberties Union]] leader [[Charles Morgan, Jr.]] filed suit against Alabama, asking that the jails and prisons be desegregated.   This was 12 years after the landmark Supreme Court case ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' which outlawed school segregation.

The [[United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama]] found in favor of the prisoners, and ordered Alabama to desegregate its jails and prisons.<ref>{{cite court |litigants=Washington v. Lee |vol=263 |reporter=F. Supp. |opinion=327 |pinpoint= |court=[[N.D. Ala.]] |date=1966 |url=https://www.leagle.com/decision/1966590263fsupp3271521.xml |accessdate=2018-11-18 |quote=}}</ref> Alabama had argued that segregation was necessary in order to maintain security and minimize violence, but the Appeals court held that "this Court can conceive of no consideration of prison security or discipline which will sustain the constitutionality of state statutes that on their face require complete and permanent segregation of the races in all the Alabama penal facilities. We recognize that there is merit in the contention that in some isolated instances prison security and discipline necessitates segregation of the races for a limited period. However, recognition of such instances does nothing to bolster the statutes or the general practice that requires or permits prison or jail officials to separate the races arbitrarily. Such statutes and practices must be declared unconstitutional in light of the clear principles controlling."

== Opinion of the Court ==
Alabama appealed to the Supreme Court, which upheld the Appeals court decision in a very brief ''[[per curiam]]'' opinion. Justices Black, Harlan, and Stewart collectively wrote a concurring opinion in which they explicitly say that "prison authorities have the right, acting in good faith and in particularized circumstances, to take into account racial tensions in maintaining security, discipline, and good order in prisons and jails."

== See also ==
* ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{wikisource-inline}}
* {{caselaw source
 | case=''Lee v. Washington'', {{ussc|390|333|1968|el=no}}
 | justia=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/390/333/
 | loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep390/usrep390333/usrep390333.pdf
 | oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/1967/75
 }}

{{US14thAmendment|equalprotection}}

[[Category:1968 in United States case law]]
[[Category:African-American history of Alabama]]
[[Category:American Civil Liberties Union litigation]]
[[Category:Civil rights movement case law]]
[[Category:Penal system in Alabama]]
[[Category:United States First Amendment case law]]
[[Category:United States Fourteenth Amendment case law]]
[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases]]
[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases of the Warren Court]]
[[Category:United States racial desegregation case law]]