20 Nov 2022

131

Prisoners' Rights: What You Need to Know

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Most of the inmates going to jail or prison have their rights abridged. However, the fact that they have broken the law and are going to be sentenced does not imply that their fundamental human rights should be infringed or violated. In light of the possibility of violations, state and federal laws play a significant role in governing prisoners' establishment and administration and protecting the inmates' rights. While in prison, inmates are protected by the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits unusual and cruel punishment ( Berry III, 2015) . Moreover, the law suggests that all inmates should be accorded a minimum living standard. For instance, during the case involving Brown v. Plata, it was held by the Supreme Court that the prison population ought to be limited to prevent overcrowding in California prisons. According to the court, overpopulation was seen as a violation of the Eighth Amendment. 

First, the Eighth Amendment plays a significant role in protecting the prisoners from any form of inhumane treatment such as unusual or cruel punishment. The Supreme Court held that cruel and unusual punishment would include public dissection, drawing and quartering, burning alive, beheading, and disemboweling ( Calavita & Jenness, 2015) . Second, inmates are protected from any form of sexual harassment or sex crimes, which applies to harassment or crimes from either the prison personnel or other inmates. For instance, most courts have held the prison administration, the guards, and even the government officials liable for any sexual-related crimes among prisoners. In most cases, such acts often constitute criminal sanctions and civil penalties against those found culpable of performing them. Third, the inmates need to raise any concern to the courts or prison administration if their rights are infringed. For the prisoner who was sexually assaulted repeatedly, his rights were denied despite the prison officials receiving civil judgments for such incidents. Fourth, inmates have a right to sue the state whenever they are discriminated against while being imprisoned. Fundamentally, this includes racial segregation, disparate treatment based on religion or ethnicity, or preferences based on age. Fifth, the Eighth Amendment protects all inmates with disability-related problems. The prisoners under the American with Disabilities Act should be provided with reasonable accommodations, which will ensure that their rights are not violated in the prison setting ( Calavita & Jenness, 2015) . The act ensures all disabled inmates are allowed access to prison facilities as those accorded to normal individuals. Lastly, all inmates are entitled to medical and mental health care, which should be adequate and reasonable to enable all those affected to feel comfortable in the prison setting. 

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However, it should be noted that inmates' rights might be denied depending on the type of facility where a prisoner is incarcerated and the criminal process stage. For instance, prisoners at the pre-trial stage should not receive any form of punishment and should be housed in humane facilities, awaiting completion of the trial process ( Schlanger, 2015) . Generally, inmates usually lose their right to privacy whenever they are sentenced. In essence, this means that their cells or prison can be searched without any form of warrant or notice. 

The concept of "legitimate penological objectives" means preserving internal order, maintaining prison security, and rehabilitating inmates. "Slave of the state," which has been a traditional practice of treating inmates, has recently been abandoned following the Supreme Court decision under the sole jurisdiction of a correctional system ( Chase, 2015) . The concept figures into inmate lawsuits because it acts as an open-ended model for implementing prisoner's rights through the Federal jurisdiction over rights guaranteed citizens in the Constitution. As a result, most federal courts have recently been flooded with inmates presenting their grievances. 

Noteworthy, the Eighth Amendment prohibits any form of cruel or unusual punishment by ensuring all the inmates are safe and live in a humane condition while at the prison. In the case of Wilson v. Seiter (1991), the prisoner under the subjective Eighth Amendment standard must show that the prison guards being sued knew that he was being deprived or harmed and that they did not respond reasonably ( Wilson v. Seiter 1991) . In Wilson v. Seiter's case, it is quite evident that the prison official showed "deliberate indifference" to the prisoner because they knew of the condition but failed to respond reasonably. As a result, all the prison guards found guilty should individually be held responsible for any harm caused to the inmate due to their indifference. The prisoner will prove this by demonstrating that the condition was so evident that the official either knew about it or purposefully ignored it. 

Hence, the victim could win a lawsuit against the state by seeking protection under the Eighth Amendment because the courts will consider any complaints or grievances reported or what other prisoners had previously filed, as well as any other prison records that refer to the problem. The prison official must not ignore any problem that is brought to their attention. In the case of Farmer v. Brennan (1994), it is apparent that federal prison officials went against the Eighth Amendment because of their intentional indifference to the inmates' safety ( Farmer v. Brennan 1994) . The petitioner, Dee Farmer, had been diagnosed as a transsexual by the Bureau of Prisons' medical personnel. It is, however, important to note that the case involving Wilson v. Seiter rejected the Eighth Amendment reading because liability could have been imposed on prison officials merely because of the existing inhumane prison conditions. 

References 

Berry III, W. W. (2015). Eighth amendment presumptions: A constitutional framework for curbing mass incarceration.  S. Cal. L. Rev. 89 , 67. 

Calavita, K., & Jenness, V. (2015).  Appealing to Justice: Prisoner grievances, rights, and carceral logic . Univ of California Press. 

Chase, R. T. (2015). We Are Not Slaves: Rethinking the rise of carceral states through the lens of the prisoners' rights movement.  The Journal of American History 102 (1), 73-86. 

Farmer v. Brennan , 511 U.S. 825, 114 S. Ct. 1970, 128 L. Ed. 2d 811 (1994). 

Schlanger, M. (2015). Trends in prisoner litigation as the PLRA enters adulthood.  UC Irvine L. Rev. 5 , 153. 

Wilson v. Seiter , 501 U.S. 294, 111 S. Ct. 2321, 115 L. Ed. 2d 271 (1991). 

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StudyBounty. (2023, September 14). Prisoners' Rights: What You Need to Know.
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