The most significant case in decades on homelessness has reached the Supreme Court as record numbers of people in America are without a permanent place to live.

The justices on Monday will consider a challenge to rulings from a California-based appeals court that found punishing people for sleeping outside when shelter space is lacking amounts to unconstitutional cruel and unusual punishment.

A political cross section of officials in the West and California, home to nearly one-third of the nation’s homeless population, argue those decisions have restricted them from “common sense” measures intended to keep homeless encampments from taking over public parks and sidewalks.

Advocacy groups say the decisions provide essential legal protections, especially with an increasing number of people forced to sleep outdoors as the cost of housing soars.

The case before the Supreme Court comes from Grants Pass, a small city nestled in the mountains of southern Oregon, where rents are rising and there is just one overnight shelter for adults. As a growing number of tents clustered its parks, the city banned camping and set $295 fines for people sleeping there.

  • @Fredselfish
    33•1 month ago

    Wonder how this Supreme Court will rule? Of courserhetorical question because they going side with city and we are about to watch the flood gates as every city especially in red states follow that city lead and start jailing homeless people.

    For profit prisons are going make bank.

    I hope I am wrong but 2024 shown that our government is owned by the 1%

    • lettruthoutEnglish
      20•1 month ago

      For profit prisons are going make bank.

      That would explain the legislative push. I was puzzling over what good it would do to arrest the homeless.

      • @whereisk
        5•1 month ago

        Which is hilariously pathetic because they will essentially pay to house them, keep 24 hour guard, dress them, pay for all their utilities, healthcare and food. It’s more expensive than to just build housing and provide relevant support for people.

        • @disguy_ovahea
          1•1 month ago

          Yes, we spend $81B per year on mass incarceration, and the money made by forced labor does not go to funding the prisons. Therefore, those who profit off of the federally subsidized slave labor are not eager to change the current system, and have ample funds for lobbying.

          Reporters found that prison labor is part of the supply chain of companies spanning across nearly the entire food industry, including grocers like Aldi, Costco, Kroger, Target, Walmart, and Whole Foods; restaurant companies like Burger King, Chipotle, Domino’s and McDonald’s; and industry conglomerates like Cargill, Coca-Cola, General Mills, Pepsi and Tyson, which together own such a large variety of brands that they are nearly impossible to avoid in retail settings.

          https://truthout.org/articles/major-brands-like-mcdonalds-kroger-and-coca-cola-linked-to-forced-prison-labor/

    • Flying Squid
      10•1 month ago

      For profit prisons are going make bank.

      I had to explain to my daughter about private prisons and how the fourteenth amendment exempts prisoners and how the private prison industry benefits from that. I hate having to disillusion her about the country she lives in all the time.

      • @disguy_ovahea
        2•1 month ago

        It’s the Thirteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth is Civil Rights.

        “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

        • Flying Squid
          1•1 month ago

          Whoops, you are correct. I did not say which amendment it was to her at least.

          • @disguy_ovahea
            2•1 month ago

            More importantly, good on you for giving her the education that her school will likely omit!