Why Do Prisoners Have Rights In Prison

Prisoners have constitutional rights but those rights need to be balanced with the operation of a jail or prison. There are mandatory rights the administrators of prisons and jails need to provide but they are balanced so that facility can meet court requirements and maintain a safe operation. We will discuss these issues in detail. The first thing we need to remember is that prisoners do not have full constitutional rights; after all they have been convicted of a crime so they do loose some rights. Let us discuss what rights prisoners do have and are ones administrators must provide; they are protected by the Constitution’s prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment which means they must be afforded a minimum standard of living. They also have the right to due process in terms of administrative appeals, as well as the right to access to the parole process. Another area where prisoners are protected is against unequal treatment on the basis of race, sex, and creed. In addition there is the Model Sentencing and Corrections Act which provides that a confined person has a protected interest in freedom from discrimination on the basis of race, religion, national origin, or sex. Prisoners also
“Under the umbrella of the Sixth Amendment, inmates have the right to attorney visits (known as legal visits). However, this does not mean unrestricted legal visits. Prison administrations may consider prohibiting contact visitation with attorneys if they can show a legitimate penological interest (Stojkovic, S., & Lovell, R., 2013).” After all the prisoner might give orders to his or her lawyer to do carry out illegal actions outside of prison such as order some killed? That is why video cameras are put in place in addition to listening to the conversations between the lawyer and prisoner. Another area that requires restrictions is for prisoners is