CRJS435 DB Assignment Overview Unit 1 Discussion Board 2
Today, prisoners have relatively more rights than was the case several decades ago. For example, in present times, prisoners have a right to file a petition against prison regulations that may appear to infringe their constitutional liberty, a practice that was none existence in American history. In my opinion, prisoners have historically had very few rights because of a lack of support from civil rights movement groups that could push for the implementation of institutional norms and standards that support constitutional rights among prisoners.
Prisoners have historically had very few rights due to a lack of support from civil rights movement groups. As observed by Resnik (2020), before the 1960s, prisons failed to recognize prisoners’ rights to adequate food and medical care. The absence of the civil rights movement in the period before the 1960s may have led to limited rights among prisoners. However, beginning of the 1960s, the civil-rights revolution began, and several reforms were made, including the recognition of prisoner’s rights to adequate food, exercise, access to courts, and religious freedom (Resnik, 2020). Based on an analysis of the two periods, it is likely that a lack of civil rights movements constrained prisoner’s rights in the past.
Information from the two selected articles suggests that prisoners have historically had fewer rights because the punishment for crime has, for years, been equated to the removal of rights that one may otherwise have enjoyed as a law-abiding citizen. For example, Smith (2011) avers that prisoners have a record of violating society in some way and are deemed to pay for their crime. However, given that such individuals cannot be tortured, as that would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, their rights are stripped away, which explains why inmates have had fewer rights (Smith, 2011). Similarly, O’Neil (2014) observes that prisoners forfeit their liberty and personal rights when convicted of a crime. As such, the two authors argue that fewer rights among prisoners are a punishment for their involvement in crimes.
I agree with the authors because they take a legal perspective on the issue of limited rights among prisoners. As argued, torture is considered an unusual and cruel treatment among inmates. Therefore, a less cruel way of making prisoners pay for their crimes has been a revocation of their rights, a practice that explains the few rights among inmates since time immemorial.
References
Resnik, J. (2020). (Un) Constitutional punishments: Eighth Amendment silos, penological purposes, and people’s “ruin”. The Yale Law Journal Forum. https://law.yale.edu/sites/default/files/area/center/liman/document/resnik_unconstitutional_punishments.pdf
Smith, N. (2011, December 15). Issues surrounding the rights of prisoners. ArticleMyriad. https://www.articlemyriad.com/issues-surrounding-rights-prisoners/
O’Neil, L. (2014, April 11). The prisoners’ rights movement of the 1960s. OZY. https://www.ozy.com/true-and-stories/the-prisoners-rights-movement-of-the-1960s/30583/
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