The complaints that were brought up were that confinement in cells in the isolation unit of the Farm amounts to cruel and unusual punishment as prohibited by the eighth amendment. They were also denied adequate medical attention, and that penitentiary authorities have failed to take adequate steps to protect inmates from assaults by other inmates. They also say that the Farm is depriving them of their fourteenth amendment rights. The court defines cruel and unusual punishment as such: a flexible and expanding one, and that punishment or system of punishment is unconstitutional if it offends concepts of decency and human dignity and precepts of civilization which Americans profess to possess, or if it is disproportionate to the offense, or if it violates fundamental standards of good conscience and fairness. They needed to show that the prison authorities had “abandoned elemental concepts of decency by permitting conditions to prevail of a shocking and debased …show more content…
They also said that as it is seen, the food is not appetizing: it is not intended to be, and the Constitution does not require that prisoners in isolation be served tasty or attractive dishes. Along with all this they also said, respondent and his subordinates are already forbidden by the injunction issued in the Jackson case from inflicting corporal punishment on convicts, and the Court is not persuaded that that injunction has been violated. The Court didn’t find from a preponderance of the evidence that the State has failed and is failing to discharge its constitutional duty with respect to the safety of certain convicts, and that the conditions existing in the isolation cells, including overcrowding, render confinement in those cells under those conditions
that offenders will not commit these crimes again. The United States should use the death penalty because it is economical and continues to be a deterrent for potential offenders.
We kill people to show them killing is wrong. The death penalty does not punish people for killing but for murdering someone. Murder is "the unlawful, malicious, or permitted killing of one human being by another" (Carmical 1). The slogan should be ?We execute people to show people that murder is wrong.? The death penalty is racist, it punishes the poor, it causes the innocent to die, it is not a deterrent against violent crime, and it is cruel and unusual punishment. The death penalty is wrong and it should be abolished.
The death penalty also known as capital punishment is an execution in which the person who committed the offence is put to death by the state. It was first practiced in Jamestown colony, 1608. The person was hanged for spying for the Spanish government and was the 1st person sentenced to death in America. Since then, it has been a form to punish the criminals for committing such heinous crimes and putting end to violence and crime rates. Despite how people agree that the death penalty is justifiable, however; it still violates the international human rights laws. These laws were created to protect the lives of all human beings including the criminals, who some might agree they do not deserve to live. Even though some might say that the
Capital Punishment is Not Only Unusual, But Cruel The most widely known aspect of the eighth amendment is the fact that it prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Cruel and unusual punishment is perceived as punishment that causes “an unnecessary and wanton infliction of pain” (Bailey). Is capital punishment cruel and unusual? It is one of the most controversial topics in America today. In effect since the 1600s, the US Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty was “cruel and unusual” in 1972 but reversed this decision when a "cleaner" way to bring about death was found in 1976 (Encarta).
The influx of inmates in the late 1970s through 1980s led to unsustainable prions condition that violated inmate’s rights granted by the Eight Amendment. As the budgets were being exhausted, transpired the issues of inmate’s poor medical treatment, abusive physical security, and unsuitable physical conditions (Newman and Scott 2013, 547). In the 1976 case of Estelle v. Gamble, the Supreme Court of the United States “established that an inmate's Eighth Amendment rights were violated if prison personnel demonstrated “deliberate indifference” to a prisoner's “serious illness or injury” (Newsman and Scott 2012, 548). The increased volume of filed lawsuits led to the passing of the Prison Litigation Reform Act, which “ targeted frivolous lawsuits by limiting waivers for the requirement that inmates pay filing fees,
There are a number of constitutional amendment(s) that are typically the focus of a number of issues with corrections and correctional policies and practices. One of the amendment(s) that is the focus of this is the Eighth Amendment which means that no one can be the subject of cruel and unusual punishment. This means that everyone should be treated equally and should not be beaten or tortured by the guards, must always be given food and water, and treated humane at all times which means that no matter what their crime was they are still allowed some form of protections by the guards to include being sexual harassed or sexual assaulted. They also retain their First Amendment right because they still have their freedom of speech and religion. Therefore, they must be allowed to practice whatever religion they believe in no matter how someone else may feel about it and they must have some time in order to practice this religion. However, there may be a number of other issues that may be raised but I feel the most important ones would be the Eighth and First Amendment because they are the biggest two that a lot of prisoners deal with in prison.
to have health screenings, diagnostic tests, surgeries as needed, and a full array of medical
While solitary confinement is one of the most effective ways of keeping todays prisoners from conflict and communication, it is also the most detrimental to their health. According to NPR the reason for most solitary confinement units in America “is to control the prison gangs (NPR, 2011).” But that is not always the case. Sometimes putting a gang member in solitary reduces the shock and awe effect that it is supposed to have, when they start losing their minds. The prisoners kept in solitary confinement show more psychotic symptoms than that of a normal prisoner, including a higher suicide rate. Once a prisoner’s mental capacity to understand why he is in prison and why he is being punished is gone, there is no reason to keep said
I agree with you that out of all the elements under the 8th amendment, the one that is the most dyer to prisoners is the cruel and unusual punishment. It comes as no surprise hat when it comes the prisons the guards run the show. That being said, this Claus within the 8th amendment help protect these prisoners from any abuse that may come their.
According to the article titled “Do Inmates Have Rights? If So, What Are They?”, “every inmate has the right to be free under the Eighth Amendment from inhumane treatment or anything considered “cruel and inhumane”. They should have this right because not all of them deserve to be treated poorly or be put somewhere inhumane.
Under the eighth amendment, cruel and unusual punishment is forbidden, however, that law stopped absolutely nothing. Inside the walls of the Eastern State Penitentiary, every action had a consequence. In the winter, if inmates were to misbehave they would get chained to the wall and have buckets of cold water thrown on them. In the summer they would get chained to a chair for days. It is bad enough most of the people in Eastern State were in solitary confinement, let alone getting strapped to a chair for days. If they continued to misbehave, an iron gag was placed over the mouth of the prisoner (Griest). The prisoners at Eastern State Penitentiary were clearly subject to cruel and unusual punishment. By the time Eastern State closed its doors in 1971, it was widely seen as a failure.
Since the introduction of solitary confinement and the construction of super-max prison there has an on going debate on whether using these punishment is violating the 8th amendment and also explaining all the health risk caused by solitary confinement. Solitary confinement is when a prisoner is held in a cell alone and they spend between 22.5 and 24 hours a day. Prisoners have no contact with other inmates and guards are also have limited contact with inmates. Solitary confinement was first introduced in the mid-nineteenth century and it was believed that it would help reform prisoners. The ideology behind solitary confinement and super-max prisons was that prisoners would be locked up alone and left with nothing but their Bible and this would allow the prisoner to reflect on his actions and wrong doings and eventually reform into a law-abiding citizen. But soon after solitary confinement was put into place it became clear that solitary confinement did not meet there goal of reforming individuals but evidence proved it caused harmed to the prisoners physical and mental health. Besides being harmful to prisoner’s physical and mental health it was also very expensive to run super-max prisons. Many began to question whether it was morally and ethically correct to keep prisoners in solitary confinement for long periods of time at once. When solitary confinement was first introduced it was used as a short-term punishment for prisoner who committed severe offenses in prison.
Summarize- This source is an audio recording from what appears to be a news service. The audio discusses the issue of prisoners in Texas jail suing the state for not having air condition in the celling on extremely hot Texas summer days. The audio tape gives some feedback from the prisoners of the Texas prison, a retired warden of the prison, and the reporter, John Burnett. The inmate and some of the prison guards claim that it breaks the United States eighth amendment for cruel and unusual punishment. However, the previous warden of twenty years uses past experiences to urge that the prisoners do not need air conditioning. The prisoners do a great job giving personal experience with battling the heat to add sympathy to their story.
The Eighth Amendment protects people from “cruel or unusual punishment". The prisons are keeping the inmates in there and they are mistreating them badly. They are not giving them food or water. I also found out that the officers did not receive any emergency training or evacuation plans and that resulted in the prisoners being kept in harsh conditions. It should be compulsory for all officers to be put through emergency training and an evacuation plan should be put together so in the future this issue will not occur
The English Bill of Rights (1689) prohibit punishments that are “cruel and unusual”. The accommodation in which prisoners are held is a key element in the quality of life they experience (Cavadino and Dignan, 2008, p.215). Cells are equipped with basic necessities however may be too small, too exposed and too uncomfortable to be humane. Lord Woolf (1991) suggests that justice in itself is compromised if prisoners are held in conditions that are ‘inhumane or degrading, or are otherwise wholly inappropriate’. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (1991) found in three local English prisons: overcrowding, lack of integral sanitation and inadequate regime activities – inhumane and degrading. However, improving prison conditions