Last month we wrote about a lawsuit brought in Mississippi by the ACLU alleging that death row conditions were so bad, inmates were being driven insane.

A Judge in Mississippi did the right thing today, granting relief and ordering ten reforms, including:

annual mental health checkups, better lighting, improved toilets, insect control and ways to keep inmates cool during the summer heat.

...Davis also ordered the Corrections Department to draw up plans to upgrade the plumbing and lighting, provide cleaning materials and make sure all windows are repaired and screened to protect the inmates from insects.

...Davis said officials should also provide sneakers and a shaded area with access to water for exercise. Currently, inmates wear prison-issued flip-flops in individual pens for exercise.

Margaret Winter, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project, said the decision sets new standards for death row:

Judge Davis really did the right thing here in recognizing the basic principle in our society that we treat everybody humanely, that we don't subject anybody to torture," she said. "Even prisoners sentenced to death cannot be subjected to subhuman conditions of confinement."