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11.5: Prisoner Rights

  • Page ID
    48442
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    Prisoner Rights

    While inmates lose most of their rights compared to American citizens in the free world, the courts have granted some of the most essential rights. One of those rights is access to the courts, legal services, and legal materials. All inmates must be allowed access to the courts. To a limited degree inmates may also have freedom of press and expression. If they wish to write a letter to the editor or a poem to themselves, they typically are allowed to do so. Inmates are also granted freedom of religion so long as it does not interfere with security. The decision whether or not to grant particular religious requests is decided by the prison administration. Inmates also have basic medical rights such that the administration should not show “deliberate indifference” to illness or injury. Overall inmates also should not suffer “cruel and unusual punishment” though punishment is allowed if there is a legitimate peneological interest.


    This page titled 11.5: Prisoner Rights is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Dr. Wendelin M. Hume & Sherina M. Hume.

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