US Supreme Court and the Rights of Inmates

U.S. Supreme Court and the Rights of Inmates

The objective of this study is to identify the constitutional amendments that deal directly with the rights of correctional inmates. For each amendment, this work will describe the rights of inmates and correctional procedures that evolved to protect those rights. Lastly, this work will explain the role of the U.S. Supreme Court in interpreting correctional law, inmates' rights and correctional procedures.

Four Amendments That Address Rights of Prisoners

The primary areas of constitutions rights for inmates incarcerated in U.S. prisons are derived from four constitutional amendments. Those four amendments include the following:

(1) First Amendment -- This amendment governs to what extent authorities restrict the rights of inmates in regards to religion, speech press, and in general, the right to communicate with persons outside the jail. (Thigpen, Hutchinson, Persons and Holland, 2007)

(2) Fourth Amendment -- due process and equal protection. This amendment determines what types of searches are reasonable or unreasonable for inmates, visitors, and staff and what privacy protections do persons retain upon entering the jail. (Thigpen, Hutchinson, Persons and Holland, 2007)

(3) Eighth Amendment -- This amendment determines when the use of force or inadequate medical care or other conditions of confinement amount to cruel and unusual punishment.

(4) Fourteenth Amendment -- (due process and equal protection) This amendment determines what types of procedural steps, including such as notice and hearing must accompany the decision to discipline an inmate to better assure the decision is made fairly. (Thigpen, Hutchinson, Persons and Holland, 2007)

II. Relevant Provisions of Jail and Prison Operations

Included in the jail and prison operations that are addressed by these amendments to the U.S. constitution are such as inmate safety and classification, quality of medical care and access to medical care, searches of inmates, visitors and jail or prison staff as well as religious practices, clothing, hair and beard, wearing of medallions, service attendance, religious literature access as well as what is deemed as a verifiable religion. In addition addressed are such as "cross-gender staffing, observation and searches of one sex by another, diets pertaining to medical and religious reasons, and access to the courts and legal materials. Also addressed by these amendments are factors including facility sanitation, personal hygiene, time out-of-cell and exercise of prisoners, disciplinary sanctions and due process as well as administrative segregation procedures for entry and conditions in segregation units. Finally, it is reported that these amendments address censorship of incoming and outgoing mail and handling of legal mail as well as diet and nutrition, clothing and the overall physical environment including lighting, heating cooling, ventilation and noise levels. (Thigpen, Hutchinson, Persons and Holland, 2007)