The Great Writ Revived: A Contemporary Reimagining of the Master’s Tools How 28 U.S.C. § 2241 Provides a Pathway to Relief for Vulnerable Classes Facing Inhumane Conditions of Confinement
Corinne Noonan
“Mass imprisonment generates profits as it devours social wealth, and thus it tends to reproduce the very conditions that lead people to prison.”
—Angela Davis
This Comment seeks not only to reconcile the needs of the modern day carceral system with the origins of habeas corpus doctrine, but also to more broadly demonstrate the delicate balancing across the judicial and legislative branches that exists where congressional policy infringes upon a legal doctrine. By attempting to root diverging circuit opinions within the canvas of habeas history to demonstrate that, particularly considering legislative and court efforts to curb habeas petitions, courts should read habeas doctrine more broadly, this Comment revives rather than rewrites the doctrine of habeas as a preexisting pathway to addressing critical, contemporary issues of confinement. Part I evaluates the origins of habeas doctrine, while charting Congress’s decades of whittling away the doctrine that culminated in the unworkable circuit split evidenced by Pinson v. Carvajal. Within this analysis, Part I considers the proper intent of the generalized habeas provision codified at Section 2241.
Part II then places Pinson within the broader context of current carceral practices, and proposes an alternative approach to habeas claims rooted in conditions of confinement issues, not just as a reflection of textual purpose, but also as a reflection of the true meaning of Section 2241. This Comment then suggests that a broadened understanding of Section 2241 better aligns with modern-day needs that account for evolving carceral practices as increased detention poses new and more frequent extraordinary challenges, particularly in light of factors such as climate change, public health crises, and emerging expression of non-binary identities. Part II concludes that reviving habeas doctrine provides a ready-made framework to mitigate certain modern-day carceral concerns.