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Date Submitted: 04/10/2012 10:04 AM
The Rights of Prisoners
Grayce V Macauley
February 22, 2012
The Rights of Prisoners
Prisoners are humans just as free men are and therefore they too are entitled to certain rights. Many of the civil rights afforded all men are taken away from prisoners, however, because of federal and state laws many rights of prisoners are still protected. According to the 8th Amendment prisoners are protected from cruel and unusual punishment as determined by the Constitution of the United States. The rights of prisoners relating to freedom of speech, religion, and equal protection under the laws are still in place.
Prisoners are protected and have the right to the observation of religious occasions; the right to having privacy; the right to vote depending on the state’s law; the right to medical treatment; the right to be protected from attacks by other inmates that would cover those prisoners who are transgender inmates; the right to telephone access. There are other rights that prisoners are afforded such as the right to smoke, marry and procreate.
Privacy
The right to privacy covers areas such as the inmates personal information in regards to where they are incarcerated; it covers the right to having their medical records restricted so only those who need to use it for their care or for the protection of others can view it. Inmates have been afforded the right to privacy and those in correctional institutions have a duty to the inmates to protect the confidentiality of their records. The actions of the correctional institution in respect to who should be present when an inmate is stripped search is also protected under the prisoner’s right to privacy. The cases covered issues such as the prisoner’s rights to not having their location clearly defined in such instances as expressing where they are based on why they are incarcerated; their privacy when being searched upon entrance into the correctional facility; the sharing of information about their...