The article focuses on the Crain v. Bordenkircher case surrounding conditions at the Penitentiary, tracing the struggle over prison conditions from the inmate lawsuit of 1981 to the opening of a new penitentiary in the mid-1990s. It also examines theoretical issues surrounding political intervention. The West Virginia case offers one of the most dramatic examples of a prison system whose conditions were so bad that there was no alternative to demolishing the facilities. Although the case provides some support to arguments against judicial intervention, such intervention was successful here. It was not an instance of Federal courts interfering with State sovereignty or trying to impose alien standards that did not fit local conditions. The supreme judicial authority of a State was almost forced to face issues that had been building for many years as a result of legislative and executive neglect. References