Unit 3: Prisoner's Rights

Prisoner's Rights by Donna Batten.
Gale Encyclopedia of American Law
2010

• "Until the 1960s, courts refused to set standards for the treatment of prisoners, claiming they lacked the authority and the expertise to do so. Courts deferred to experienced prison administrators to avoid interfering with their ability to respond to the varied, complex issues involved in a penal system, such as custody, security, rehabilitation, discipline, punishment, and limited resources" (Historical Background pg 103). 

It's amazing to me how things have changed over the years. How it used to be before the 60's vs. how it is now. Quite interesting. 

• "Convicted offenders are deprived of many of their CIVIL RIGHTS , both during and after their period of INCARCERATION . A majority of states deprive citizens of the right to vote in all state and federal elections upon conviction of a felony. Even in jurisdictions where offenders can vote after release, they ordinarily cannot obtain an absentee ballot and vote while in prison." (Rights of Citizenship section).

It is interesting to me that offenders cannot vote, which I completely agree with. But can other persons in prison vote? I have never heard of people being able to vote while they are "locked up." 

• "Prisoners do not have the right to expect privacy in a prison setting. Court decisions have established that prison officials can properly monitor and record prisoners’ conversations, provided that the prisoner and the visitor are warned that this will be done. Prison officials cannot intrude upon conversations that are legally afforded confidentiality, such as those between the prisoner and the prisoner’s attorney or spouse.

• In Hudson v. Palmer, 468 U.S. 517, 104 S. Ct. 3194, 82 L. Ed. 2d 393 (1984), the Supreme Court declared that prisoners do not have a FOURTH AMENDMENT right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures of their property because the Fourth Amendment is inapplicable to them." (Under Privacy) 

I love that prisons do NOT have the right to have privacy. They have obviously taken advantage of their rights, and taken advantage of their freedom. Its unfortunate that they no longer have privacy rights, but they had it coming when they put themselves in the wrong situations.



When prisoners receive mail, before it gets to them, the mail had already been opened and looked through. The reasons for this is to keep the prison safe. Making sure there aren't any weapons, pornography, drugs, or anything that is harmful to the inmates or will stir up trouble. (pg 104)


These are just a few things that stuck out to me in this article about Prisoners Rights. They basically don't have the majority of the rights that they would have if they were normal citizens of the United States. But unfortunately for them, they are not able to do a lot of things people are able to do in a regular day to day life. They don't even get to choose what they eat each day. They decisions are mostly made for them. The second they enter a prison door they are banned from the majority of our rights.

"Prisoners' Rights. Gale Encyclopedia of American Law. Ed. Donna Batten. 3rd ed. Vol. 8 Detroit: Gale, 2010. 102-108. Gale Virtual Reference. Library. Web 29 April 2012