Whitley, Individually and as Assistant Superintendent, Oregon State Penitentiary, et al. v. Albers

Decided March 4, 1986. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 84-1077 · 475 U.S. 312 (1986) · Cited 6,155 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 5–4.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Estelle v. Gamble · 429 U.S. 97 (1976)
• Ingraham v. Wright · 430 U.S. 651 (1977)
• Bell v. Wolfish · 441 U.S. 520 (1979)
• Rhodes v. Chapman · 452 U.S. 337 (1981)
• John v. Johnson · 414 U.S. 1033 (1973)
• Hudson v. Palmer · 468 U.S. 517 (1984)
• Gregg v. Georgia · 428 U.S. 153 (1976)
• Daniels v. Williams · 474 U.S. 327 (1986)
• Rochin v. California · 342 U.S. 165 (1952)
• Youngberg v. Romeo Ex Rel. Romeo · 457 U.S. 307 (1982)
• Robinson v. California · 370 U.S. 660 (1962)
• Davidson v. Cannon · 474 U.S. 344 (1986)
• City of Revere v. Massachusetts General Hospital · 463 U.S. 239 (1983)
• Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners' Labor Union, Inc. · 433 U.S. 119 (1977)
• Byrd v. Blue Ridge Rural Electric Cooperative, Inc. · 356 U.S. 525 (1958)
• United States v. New York Telephone Co. · 434 U.S. 159 (1977)
• Block v. Rutherford · 468 U.S. 576 (1984)
• Galloway v. United States · 319 U.S. 372 (1943)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Hudson v. McMillian · 503 U.S. 1 (1992)
• Wilson v. Seiter · 501 U.S. 294 (1991)
• Graham v. Connor · 490 U.S. 386 (1989)
• Farmer v. Brennan · 511 U.S. 825 (1994)
• County of Sacramento v. Lewis · 523 U.S. 833 (1998)
• Kingsley v. Hendrickson · 576 U.S. 389 (2015)
• Albright v. Oliver · 510 U.S. 266 (1994)
• Hope v. Pelzer · 536 U.S. 730 (2002)
• DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services · 489 U.S. 189 (1989)
• Wilkins v. Gaddy · 559 U.S. 34 (2010)
• Washington v. Harper · 494 U.S. 210 (1990)
• Stanford v. Kentucky · 492 U.S. 361 (1989)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).