Recruit Richard Bui
Training Staff
Project: Prisoner Rights
10 April 2017
Prisoner Rights: Do They Have Any?
Before the prisoners’ rights movement in the 20th century, many prisoners were not afforded the basic rights of the Constitution (The Prisoners’ Rights Movement of the 1960s, 2014). The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that in 1866 prisoners had no constitutional rights while they were incarcerated. They were often referred to as slaves of the state in 1871 (The Prisoners’ Rights Movement of the 1960s, 2014). Many prisons had a “hands off” doctrine that meant federal governments did not interfere with the policies of many prisons, this in turn meant that cruel and unusual punishment was not illegal. With the turn of the 20th century, basic
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The First Amendment states that any citizen has the right to free speech, press, and religion. Citizens of the United States can openly protest under the First Amendment. They can have religious freedom and cannot be punished for what they believe. Another amendment that is granted to citizens is the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unlawful searches and seizes. Under the Eighth Amendment, we are protected from excessive bail and fines and should not be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment if we were to be arrested. And lastly, the Fourteenth Amendment, which addresses citizen rights and equal protections of the law. Although many prisoners have these rights outside of prison, to what limits are these rights afforded to them while they are in …show more content…
The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment states that no state shall deprive any person to life, liberty, or property without due process of the law. Kingsley claimed that pretrial detainees under the Due Process Clause had a liberty that consisted of freedom from the use of excessive force. Kingsley had to prove in court that Hendrickson used excessive force which was defined as force that is applied recklessly that is unreasonable in light of the facts and circumstances at the time (Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 2015). He had to prove that Hendrickson used force on him, that the use of force was unreasonable in light of the facts at the time, that the defendant knew the use of force could risk harm to the plaintiff, and that Hendrickson caused some pain to Kingsley (Kingsley v. Hendrickson, 2015). Kingsley failed to prove that Officer Hendrickson use of force was unnecessary thus losing his court case. The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment protects pretrial detainees from the use of excessive force that would amount to punishment. Punishment couldn’t be proven without an expressed intent to inflict punishment. Without Hendrickson expressing his intent to punish, the court couldn’t prove that excessive force on Hendrickson to remove his handcuffs was used as
In the case of Sandin v. Conner, DeMont Conner, an inmate at a maximum security correctional facility in Hawaii, was subjected to a strip search in 1987. During the search he directed angry and foul language at the officer. Conner was charged with high misconduct and sentenced to 30 days of segregation by the adjustment committee. Conner was not allowed to present witnesses in his defense. Conner completed the 30-day segregation sentence, after which he requested a review of his case. Upon review, prison administration found no evidence to support the misconduct claim. The State District Court backed the decision, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Sandin had a liberty interest in remaining free from disciplinary segregation. This case is significant because it confronts the question of which constitutional rights individuals retain when they are incarcerated. In Sandin v. Conner, the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that prisoners have a right to due process only when “atypical and significant deprivation” has occurred. Prisons must now be vigilant in protecting the rights of inmates. It is a delicate matter in the sense that, when an individual enters prison, their rights to liberty are by and large being forfeited. The rights in question are important to prisoners because prisons are closed environments where by nature their freedoms are already very limited. They need a well-defined set of rights so that prisons do not unduly infringe on their liberty. Without court intervention, prison administrators would likely not have allowed this particular right, as it adds another layer of bureaucracy that can be seen as interfering with the efficiency of their job. Also, it could lead to a glut of prisoners claiming violations of their rights under the court ruling.
In the 21 first Century, the United States still has an extremely large number of individuals in the penal system. To this day, the American country still contains the highest prison population rate in the world. Although mass incarceration rates are extremely high, decreases in this number have been made. Since the first time since the 1970s, the imprisoned population has declined about 3 percent. This small step seemingly exemplifies how a vast majority of individuals who becoming aware of these issues and performing actions to decrease these numbers. In the Chapter 13 of James Kilgore’s Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People's Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time, he asserts how individuals who oppose mass incarceration
Prison litigation is a form of lawsuit process with which prisoners seek relief from prison. The Prison litigation Reform Act clearly outlines an increase in the litigation of prison cases that was enacted in 1996. Through such litigations, inmates are able to fight for their rights and fair treatment in prison. For instance among the prison ligations, we have prospective relieve where one can file a lawsuit to request the prison to change some of their policies to let one for example pray amongst groups. Exhaustion of remedies for administration also allows for one to articulate grievances against the prison official before suing them. Emotional or mental injuries are among other issues of prison litigation addressed in this prison litigation
Shapiro, David. Banking on Bondage: Private Prisons and Mass Incarceration. Rep. New York: American Civil Liberties Union, 2011. Print.
The 1970s in the United States was a time of incredible change, doubt, as well as reform. The many issues happening throughout the country helped to lead to the discomfort in many prisoners that eventually lead to their e...
Most prisoners that are in prison now are more than likely to be free one day where some will spend the rest of their living life there. When they enter into the prison system, they lose more than just being able to wear what they want. They even lose more than just their civil liberties. Gresham Sykes was the first to outline these major deprivations that prisoners go through in his book The Society of Captives. His five major pains, which he calls “pains of imprisonment”, were loss of liberty, loss of autonomy, loss of security, deprivation of heterosexual relationships, and deprivation of goods and services. Matthew Robinson adds onto Sykes’ five pains with three more of his own. His additional pains are loss of voting rights, loss of dignity,
Davis discusses the history of the justice system and how the Penitentiary replaced capitol and corporal punishment. She defines Penitentiary as “Imprisonment was regarded as rehabilitative and the penitentiary prison was devised to provide convicts with the conditions for reflecting on their crimes and, through penitence, for reshaping their habits even their souls.3” though the idea of the penitentiary is arguable a new idea during the American Revolution. The penitentiary process was so that prisoners could learn from what they have done by a process of separation and rehabilitation. After slavery and during the early 20th century the level of crime rates rose during the early 1920’s to 1940’s. In the Article Less crime more punishment Adler4,
Prisons have dated back to the twentieth century when the United States had almost two million people confined in prisons or jails. Prisons have been a form of government punishment that has shaped our nation to what it is today. The first jail was established in Philadelphia, in 1970. It was called the Walnut Street Jail and was recorded as the first use of imprisonment through solitary confinement. The basic principles of the new system were to reform those in prison, and to segregate those according to age, sex, and type of offenses charged against them (Schoenherr). The second prison was called Sing-Sing a...
Bibliography:.. **Parenti, Christian, Lockdown America (London; New York: Verso, 1999) 17-19. Lynch, Michael J. and Patterson, Britt, Race and Criminal Justice (New York: Harrow and Heinstien, 1991). *Ranese, Celia "Todays Prison system vs. Yesterdays Slave System" USA TALK 13 March 1999. *Palmer, Louise "Numbers of Blacks in Prison Nears 1 Million" The Boston Globe Seattle Post Intelligencer *United States Department of Justice Bureau of Statistics: Prison Inmate Statistics, Washington 1998 *Polowsky, Robert, "Liberal Legacy" Prison Activist Resource Center (weekly).
The system of the Prison Industrial Complex operates within the law. The law allows private companies to infiltrate the prison, while keeping prisoners in a subjugated position. The law, under the Eight Amendment obligates prison officials to provide prisoners with “adequate” medical care. This principle applies regardless of whether the medical care provided is by governmental employees or by private medical staff under contract with the government (Project, 2012). If prisoners believe they are being denied their constitutio...
The constitution of the United States of America contains the amendments that give American citizens their everyday rights and privileges. “Within the first eight amendments of the Bill of Rights, there are 25 specific liberties and protections for individuals. Of those 25 protections, fifteen relate directly to the criminal process.” This information comes from sixthamendment.org. These amendments include things like: freedom of speech, the right to a speedy and fair trail, the right to a grand jury and right to a fair trial in cases of criminal trials, and the right to bail. In this essay we will discuss only the Fifth, Sixth and Eighth amendment and how it protects the citizens of the United States.
The past two decades have engendered a very serious and historic shift in the utilization of confinement within the United States. In 1980, there were less than five hundred thousand people confined in the nation’s prisons and jails. Today we have approximately two million and the numbers are still elevating. We are spending over thirty five billion annually on corrections while many other regime accommodations for education, health
During the early half of the 19th century, there were two new models of prisons being built in the United States. Along with the new styles of prisons being constructed, two new styles of correctional systems were developed, the Pennsylvania system, and the Auburn, New York system (Mays & Winfree, 2009). Although the designs of the actual prisons were dramatically different, both systems shared similar ideals, with regards to how inmates should spend their days. Ultimately, the Auburn system prevailed as the more popular system of corrections in the United States, with some of the system’s correctional philosophies being used well into the 20th century (Mays & Winfree, 2009). Before discussing the actual philosophies, which were used to manage the inmates in each system, we should first look at the difference in the design of the prisons used in each system.
For centuries, prisons have been attempting to reinforce good behavior through various methods of punishment, some more severe than others. There are several types of punishments which include “corporal punishment, public humiliation, penal bondage, and banishment for more severe offenses, as well as capital punishment”(Linklater, V). Punishments in which are more severe pose the question “Has it gone too far?” and is stripping away the rights and humanity of a criminal justified with the response it is for the protection of the people? Is justice really served? Although prison systems are intense and the experience is one of a kind for sure, it does little to help them as statistics show “two-in-five inmates nationwide return to jail within three years of release”(Ascharya, K).
The ethical theory of utilitarianism and the perspective on relativism, of prison labor along with the relativism on criminal behavior of individuals incarcerated are two issues that need to be addressed. Does the utilitarianism of prisoner’s right laws actually protect them? Or are the unethical actions of the international and states right laws exploiting the prison labor? Unethical procedures that impact incarcerated individuals and correctional staff, the relativism of respect as people and not just prisoner’s; the safety of all inmates and correctional staff, are all issues worth continuous reflection.