one landmark case, "madrid v. gomez", challenged the conditions of the security housing unit (shu) in the pelican bay state prison. the court ruled that the current conditions were not “per se violative of the eighth amendment” with respect to all inmates. however, in regard to shu's isolation of the mentally ill and the conditions of their solitary confinement, the court found that the prison had violated the eighth amendment. despite it being a landmark case, the rulings of the case have yet to set a trend among cases against other prison systems because shu's conditions were known to be more extreme and harsh than other supermax prisons.