Should Prisoners Have Rights?

The U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights are most notable for their protection of the rights of suspected and accused individuals. All to often we forget it also covers the rights of those persons convicted of a crime. There are two positions when it comes the rights of convicted and imprisoned persons, which are rights-are-retained and rights-are-lost. In retrospect, they are both right because prisoners rights may not be granted rights nor shall rights be withheld that are not supported by law. Therefore, prisoners are given Conditional Rights because they are constrained by the legitimate needs of imprisonment. The Conditional Rights of inmates are communication and vision, religious freedom, access to the courts and legal assistance,

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.

How would you feel if one mistake caused one of your main rights as citizens to be taken away? Today, people who have paid their dues are denied their innate right to vote and to participate in decisions that governs their lives. Convicted felons who served their time have an innate right to vote and failure to allow ex-felons to vote has a disproportionate impact on my minority communities.

Some basic prisoner’s rights are: freedom from cruel and unusual punishment, the right to communicate, and the right to medical treatment. Freedom from cruel and unusual punishment falls under the eight amendment. This right is tricky because there are different definitions of what falls under the category of “cruel and unusual”. For an act to be considered cruel and unusual it is usually thought to be inhuman with no doubt about it.

Although felons are a criminal who have committed a dangerous crime by rebelling against the law and have been punished by politics and government of the United States the right not to vote; as a result they were denied of voting right. However, taking away the right to vote is like appealing against the constitution of the fourteen amendments which state that every person have the right to be free from discrimination and to have the equal of the law. Therefore, felons should be given the right to vote when he or she bore an American citizen or naturalized as an American citizen; as a result no one should be denied the right from voting not when you are a citizen and have served their sentences.

There has been cases that brings the question is the U.S. prisons have violated human rights such as when looking at the The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution states: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted (SITE).” “Excessive force” by prison guards constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. In a very important Supreme Court case called Hudson v. McMillian, 503 U.S. 1 (1992), the Court found a violation of the Eighth Amendment when prison officials punched and kicked a prisoner, leaving him with minor bruises, swelling of his face and mouth, and loose teeth. The Court held that a guard’s use of force violates the Eighth Amendment when it is not applied

They need health care just like everyone else. There is a show called 60 minutes in. Where people offer to stay to see what jail is really like. It is an eye opener to me because the sanitary conditions were bad... People controlled who stayed where by a Pod boss instead of the guards which is a big issue. On one show that I had seen sewage was leaking in the cells and people where getting sick, One inmate was throwing up blood the nurse saw him for maybe a few seconds and called it a stomach bug. While we tend to view people in prison and jail as dangerous and threat to society it isn’t always that way. All people deserve

Throughout time many prisoners have lost man rights not because they deserve to lose them but because they take their rights away without them knowing. Although being held in a prison they are still entitled to what the constitution has to offer for every individual in this country. Our rights and for those in jails or prisons, they hold prisoner rights as well. The authorities will treat most inmate’s unequal for the circumstances that led them there. American Civil Liberties Union also known as ACLU has been working for the rights of the prisoner’s that are in jail or prison to gain what belongs to them.

There are over two million people in the United States behind bars. Incarceration in the US is one of the main forms of punishment that leads nothing after for people when getting out. Every state, city, country, all have laws we citizens obey and go by to do best for our country, but what happens someone violates the law? According to Google’s definition of a felony, it says that felony means, “a crime, typically one involving violence, regarded as more serious than a misdemeanor, and usually punishable by imprisonment for more than one year or by death”. Getting caught by the law, being arrested, doing time in jail makes you automatically a felon once your name is in the system. What’s promised after being in jail is something no one should experience. With this in mind, people’s human rights are being taken away from the minute their hands and arms are behind in cuffs. For this reason, what our human rights mean is, “The basic rights and freedoms to which all humans are considered to be entitled, often held to include the rights to life, liberty, equality, and a fair trial,freedom from slavery and torture, and freedom of thought and expression” ( Houghton Mifflin).

Equalizing the constitutional rights of prisoners and the functions of the jail or prison can create great strain on not only the correctional facilities’ staff but on the inmates as well. The treatment of prisoners is typically left completely to the prudence of prison administrators and other correctional officials. With that being said, this paper will discuss the differences between harmonizing those constitutional rights of prisoners and the functions of the facility. It will also explain the rights that prisoners are required to have, and how these rights are balanced within other aspects of the correctional institution.

Although inmates may not have full Constitutional rights while incarcerated, they are entitled to basic human rights, freedom and dignity. U.S. penal systems have been reformed at the beginning of the 1960’s. The reason for this reformation is to prevent inhumane treatment, provide inmates with religious freedom, and due process (Smith, 2010). The U.S. Supreme Court

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.

People are incarcerated for different crimes some a lot more severe than others. For example, a single parent was sentenced to 3 months for the theft of a pair of jeans worth £10 (BBC News, 2011). However, while these are viable points and questions, the government allowing certain individuals in prisons to vote could be a complicated decision. Felons’ circumstances are not simply black and white; there can be a grey area with individual cases. Appropriate retribution is said to only occur when an appropriate punishment is given for the crime (Hegel, 1965). This makes it difficult to judge who has committed a serious enough offence to enable them to be stripped of their right to vote. Streeter said, the UK decided hundreds of years ago that prisoners should not have the right to vote’ (Streeter, 2011). This is a settled view in this country which has been accepted since 1870 (Hollobone, 2011). ‘Do we want convicted murderers, rapists and paedophiles to be given the vote?’ (BBC News, 2010). In terms of making the right decision and having it morally and politically justifiable, felons should not be allowed to vote and it is nonsensical to think they should.

Should all prisoners be given the right to vote or should it be limited only to some or to none at all? Provide a reasoned argument for your decision.

Our society tends to jump to conclusions and make assumptions of prisoners. Despite what they have committed and how severe it may be they are still human. We look at them as if they are inhumane because they are in prison. They still deserve some of the rights that they had before being convicted. I’m not saying that I am okay with the crimes they have committed but I am okay with them having a little more of their basic rights.