Turner v. Safley

In Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78 (1987), the Supreme Court articulated factors that should be considered in evaluating the reasonableness of a prison regulation, including: (1) whether there is a "'valid, rational connection' between the prison regulation and the legitimate governmental interest put forward to justify it"; id. (2) "whether there are alternative means of exercising the right that remain open to prison inmates"; (3) "the impact accommodation that the asserted constitutional right will have on guards and other inmates, and on the allocation of prison resources generally"; (4) "the absence of ready alternatives." 482 U.S. at 90. The Court stated that a regulation cannot be upheld if "the logical connection between the regulation and the asserted goal is so remote as to render the policy arbitrary or irrational. Moreover, the governmental objective must be a legitimate and neutral one." 482 U.S. at 89-90.