502us2$26J 01-22-99 08:32:58 PAGES OPINPGT
398
RUFO v. INMATES OF SUFFOLK COUNTY JAIL O’Connor, J., concurring in judgment
obviously modification would be all but impossible. That cannot be the rule.” Ante, at 387. This sweeping conclusion strikes me as both logically and legally erroneous. It may be that the modification of one term of a decree does not always defeat the purpose of the decree. See supra, at 396. But it hardly follows that the modification of a single term can never defeat the decree’s purpose, especially if that term is “the most important element” of the decree. If, for instance, the District Court finds that the respondents would never have consented to the decree (and a decade of delay in obtaining relief) without a guarantee of single celling, I should think that the court would not abuse its discretion were it to conclude that modification to permit double celling would be inequitable. Similarly, were the court to find that the jail was constructed with small cells on the assumption that each cell would hold but one inmate, I doubt that the District Court would exceed its authority under Rule 60(b)(5) by concluding that it would be inequitable to double cell the respondents. To the extent the Court suggests otherwise, it limits the District Court’s discretion in what I think is an unwarranted and ill-advised fashion. The same is true of the Court’s statement that the District Court should “defer to local government administrators . . . to resolve the intricacies of implementing a decree modification.” Ante, at 392. To be sure, the courts should defer to prison administrators in resolving the day-to-day problems in managing a prison; these problems fall within the expertise of prison officials. See, e. g., Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U. S. 401, 407–408 (1989). But I disagree with the notion that courts must defer to prison administrators in resolving whether and how to modify a consent decree. These questions may involve details of prison management, but at bottom they require a determination of what is “equitable” to all concerned. Deference to one of the parties to a lawsuit is usually not the surest path to equity; deference to these
