State prisoners in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections brought a civil rights action, alleging violations of their constitutional rights, specifically the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment and the Equal Protection and Due Process clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment.  Aggrieved by being subjected to secondhand tobacco smoke “in all inmate living areas, including dining facilities and inmate sleeping quarters in violation of [the defendants’] own policy . . . ” the plaintiffs seek monetary damages in the amount of $1,350,000 per plaintiff, a declaratory judgment, injunctive relief and punitive damages.  See “Miss. Inmates File Suit Over 2nd-hand Smoke,” Times-Picayune (New Orleans, LA), June 16, 1996, B4.

3:96 CV 0268WS, Civil Action No. 4:96cv220-B-A (U.S.D.C. No. Dist. Miss., 1996).