Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevski commented that the degree of civilization in society can be judged by entering ist prisons. Anyone observing conditions in many of America’s jails and lockups would question just how civilized we really are. At the erie county holding center, the second largest jail in new York state, inmates are jammed in so tight sometimes 300 men must sleep on the floor. Wherever a mattress can be thrown, an inmate may be sleeping,even next to toilets. Overcrowding conditions similar to those in Erie county have given rise to a number of lawsuits in recent years,from such varied places as Kenton county,Ohio;Onondaga and broome counties in New York;and blount county,Tennessee.