Two separate lawsuits recently filed by California inmates claim that nightly welfare checks by guards have contributed to sleep deprivation and “unconstitutionally cruel punishment,” reports SF Weekly.

Christopher Lipsey, an inmate housed at the California State Prison in Corcoran, and Maher Suarez, who’s locked up in Solano, are behind the suits. Both are in SHUs — Secure Housing Units — which mean that prison guards carry out welfare and suicide checks every 30 minutes for the 22 hours per day that the prisoners are kept in their cells.

The checks have been required statewide since a class action lawsuit was filed in 1990. To streamline efforts, guards must strike a metal wand on an electric pad outside the door of each cell once they’ve completed a check. The device then logs that the check happened.