Rights In Prison

For years inmates in the United States have struggled to fight for their rights as human beings. Prior to the 1960s, federal and state courts would immediately dismiss prisoners’ rights cases and continuously pointed out that inmates had very few of the rights of free people. As children, we learned that prison was created for people who made mistakes so they could be rehabilitated in hopes of once again becoming an active member of society. It was not created so those people could be deprived of all their rights and be tortured everyday. Although they don’t have full Constitutional rights, they should be entitled to the most basic human rights. If these prisoners are stripped of all their rights and are constantly being abused, their view …show more content…
About half a century ago, inmates were dealing with the same obstacles that still exist today. They wanted to be acknowledged as citizens with the ability to honor their religion and carry their own political beliefs, while avoiding any type of physical or sexual violence. Prisoners demanded due process of law, a sense of uniformity in policies, tolerable living conditions, and decent medical care. Information about the black movement was quickly revealed in prisons. A number of inmates started to form connections between their personal suffering and the social system. “It became clear - and prisoners seemed to know this from the start - that their condition would not be changed by law, but by protest, organisation, resistance, the creation of their own culture, their own literature, the building of links with people on the outside”(Steven). The development and growth of the support for civil rights in the legal business helped put forth the education and financial backing needed for effective prisoner lawsuits. Courts that typically discarded the protests of uneducated prisoners could no longer effortlessly dismiss the same complaints accurately filed by attorneys. The public soon became progressively aware of the vile, shameful conditions that illustrated prison life. Due to all of the lawsuits, strikes, and riots, the movement helped remodel quite a few policies …show more content…
They have been struck with fists and batons, kicked, stomped on, shot at, choked, and much more. It is preposterous and self-defeating to treat these people like they’re animals while locked up, then expect them to function as a normal human when they’re released. Robert E. Roberts says, “What I would say is that the environment of a prison should model in every way how we want prisoners to behave upon their release… That means that while they are a prisoner, they have to receive respect and the prison has to be law-abiding”(What I Want). If these prisoners are repeatedly being abused, they’re presumably going to re-enter the real world with a damaged perspective of life, and there would probably be a higher chance of them repeating the action they took to get to jail in the first place. The abuse they once received will linger with them forever. While it is true that criminals do deserve to be penalized for their actions, there is no need to brutalize them. It is beyond degrading and immoral, and the result of it just makes this society even more