Sandra Day O'Connor

“ Mere foreseeability in the sense that it was an event that "could conceivably arise" during the life of the consent decree, see ante, at 385, should not, of course, disqualify an unanticipated development from justifying a modification. But the parties should be charged with notice of those events that reasonably prudent litigants would contemplate when negotiating a settlement. Given the realities of today's society, it is not surprising that the District Court found a continued growth in inmate population to be within petitioners' contemplation. ”

“ In order to discharge their duty to provide an adequate facility, and also to avoid the risk of stern sanctions for years of noncompliance with an outstanding court order, it would be entirely appropriate for petitioners to propose a remedy that exceeded the bare minimum mandated by the Constitution. Indeed, terms such as "minimum" or "floor" are not particularly helpful in this context. The remedy is constrained by the requirement that it not perpetuate a constitutional violation, and in this sense the Constitution does provide a "floor." ”

“ The District Court may well have been justified, for the reasons suggested by Justice STEVENS, in refusing to modify the decree, and the court is free, when fully exercising its discretion, to reach the same result on remand. This is a case with no satisfactory outcome. The new jail is simply too small. Someone has to suffer, and it is not likely to be the government officials responsible for underestimating the inmate population and delaying the construction of the jail. ”

“ Third, although the District Court purported to apply the "flexible standard" proposed by the petitioners, the court denied modification because " [t] he type of modification sought here would not comply with the overall purpose of the consent decree; it would set aside the obligations of that decree." Id., at 565. Taken literally, this conclusion deprives the "flexible standard" of any meaning; every modification, by definition, will alter an obligation of a decree. ”

“ For example, an agreement on an exercise facility, a library, or an adequate place for worship might be approved by the court in a consent decree, even if each individual feature were not essential to the termination of the constitutional violation. In fact, in this action it is apparent that the two overriding purposes that informed both the District Court's interim remedy and the respondents' negotiations were the prohibition against double celling and the closing of the old jail. ”

“ The inmates have as much claim as the prison officials to an understanding of the equities. The District Court should be free to take the views of both sides into account, without being forced to grant more deference to one side than to the other. ”

“ After a judicial finding of constitutional violation, petitioners were ordered in 1973 to place pretrial detainees in single cells. In return for certain benefits, petitioners committed themselves in 1979 to continued compliance with the single-celling requirement. They reaffirmed this promise in 1985. It was clearly not an abuse of discretion for the District Court to require petitioners to honor this commitment. ”

“ It must be noted, however, that a remedial decree may well contain provisions that are unpopular; a requirement of additional expenditures to improve jail conditions might be an example of such an unpopular order. Mere unpopularity does not constitute a sufficient reason for modification. ”

“ See Inmates of Suffolk County Jail v. Kearney, 573 F.2d, at 99. Third, although respondents had already prevailed, they were willing to agree to another postponement of the closing of the Charles Street Jail if petitioners submitted, and the court approved, an adequate plan for a new facility.
Obviously any plan would have to satisfy constitutional standards. It was equally obvious that a number of features of the plan, such as the site of the new facility or its particular architectural design, would not be constitutionally mandated. ”

“ By 1982, respondents believed that the 1979 projections underestimated the future inmate population. See Record, 2 App. 642-648. In 1985, petitioners knew that the average number of male prisoners detained in 1984 had been 320 instead of the projected number of 236. Id., at 642-650.↑ The Court refers to the need to "keep the public interest in mind" when deciding whether to modify a decree. Ante, at 392. It is certainly true that when exercising their equitable powers, courts should properly consider the interests of the "public." ”

“ The continued claims of financial constraint should not provide support for petitioners' modification requests. [7]
The strong public interest in protecting the finality of court decrees always counsels against modifications. ”

“ Moreover, as the District Court found, during the history of the litigation petitioners have been able to resort to various measures such as "transfers to state prisons, bail reviews by the Superior Court, and a pretrial controlled release program" to respond to the overcrowding problem. ”

“ In Wright, the plaintiffs originally brought suit alleging that a railroad and its unions discriminated against nonunion employees, a practice prohibited by the Railway Labor Act, 45 U.S.C. § 151 et seq. ”