From a letter to the editor in the NYT (last one in the string):

To the Editor:The Supreme Court has ruled that crowding in the California prisons violates the Constitutions ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Yet a previous court ruled that capital punishment does not violate the Constitution.While I have never had to face prison crowding or capital punishment, I believe I could tolerate the former over the latter. Evidently, one can be put to death in California, but cannot be crowded into a cell.GERALD BAZERToledo, Ohio, May 24, 2011