The Rights of a Prisoner

Rights of Prisoners

While lawful incarceration deprives prisoners of most of Americas Constitutional rights, they do maintain a few constitutional rights. Federal courts, while hesitant to impede with the internal administration of prisons, will interfere to rectify violations of the constitutional rights that prisoners are still entitled to. A prison guideline that oversteps on a prisoner’s constitutional rights is lawful only if it is reasonably related to the safety of the inmates or the rehabilitation of that prisoner.

The Supreme Court has acknowledged four significant factors in determining the rationality of a prison guideline. Courts should contemplate whether there is a lawful, sensible association between the guideline and the reasonable interest advanced to justify it, whether different means for exercising the proclaimed right continue to exist, whether accommodation of the proclaimed right will unfavorably disturb guards, other inmates, and distribution of prison properties generally, and whether there is an noticeable substitute to the guideline that fully accomm...