When it comes to the rights of prisoners, I feel like they are regulated to keep the inmate And staff as safe as possible. I plan to state my opinion as an outside source as to how I Feel about certain rights that prisoners receive. Communication and visitation – I feel that this right should be limited to immediate Family and legal personnel only. When friends visit, it brings too much outside influence to the prisoner and may cause problems. I also feel that inmates should be kept away from newspapers.
So many of them are looking to put down the prison or staff members or make someone else look bad. Prison officials should be able to control incoming and outgoing mail in order to keep everyone safe. This is the only way some inmates have contact with the outside world. Some of them may be threatening or vulgar and I feel this should be stopped once it is found. Religious Freedom – Although everyone does not believe in the same higher power, I still think that everyone should be allowed to worship in their own ways. No certain religion should be allowed their own place of worship within a prison.
One area should be designated and certain times be set aside for each group. I agree to this until a group tries to make this a means of violent organization or social gathering. I believe that prisons do well at maintaining what they think is appropriate to make all religious beliefs equal as far as special diets, prayer supplies, etc. Access to the courts and legal assistance – I think that inmates should be allowed to have access to courts and legal aid because not everyone in prison may be guilty of their charges and wish to try and prove that, especially since technology has come so far.
Inmates may be treated unfairly by abuse or neglect and need legal assistance to have it resolved. I think it is a good idea to have a legal aid within the prison to give advice to the inmate as to whether it will be heard in court. I don’t agree that any visitation with a lawyer may be recorded unless the lawyer agrees to it. What a person does or says to their attorney should remain private. The law says that recordings can not be used in most cases in court, but others may hear it or see it and try to use it against the inmate.
Jails and prisons should be equipped with law libraries to help assist them in their cases. There are many inmates who may benefit from them and help prove their innocence. Too often when a person is convicted and sent to prison, they are forgotten about if they don’t have any family or outside support, and they should be able to have the help of a lawyer or court if needed. Medical Care – I feel that inmates should be allowed medical care only when it is necessary and prevents further illness or death.
I do not think that inmates should be allowed to have narcotic medication on the bases that most of them are addicts and they are going to do whatever it takes to try and get high “legally”. Inmates who are critically sick should get the treatment it takes to make them better. If they need to be transported to a hospital for further treatment then they should have that right. Protection from harm – A person sentenced to prison has already had most of their right on the outside taken away but they should not have to live in fear of being hurt in prison.
If there was not protection then the prisons would be full of people beating the crap out of one another or killing each other. Inmates also need legal protection or medical protection from correctional staff or even themselves in some cases. Privacy – Inmates should be limited to privacy as far as keeping order is concerned. Staff has the right to do cell searches or body searches with the intent to keep the prisons safe. What inmate hides could kill someone or themselves. I think that legal issues should remain private form other inmates and that’s what the staff is there for.
If a prisoner breaks the rules within the prison, the things they enjoy the most, such as TV, radio, rec time, etc, should be taken away. Some prisons put inmates on 23 hr lockdown. You have to have something to take away in order for them to be punished, and hopefully learn a lesson. Some prisons just don’t care. I think that physical abuse by an officer is uncalled for and it is cruel. Any kind of physical abuse by personnel or inmates for disciplinary reasons should be taken as a danger to others and they should e fired or punished.
Everybody everywhere deserves fair punishment and discipline no matter who they are. With all of these said, prisoners have a fair amount of rights? The more rights you give a person, the more they will expect. When a person commits a crime, they know what the consequences for those actions will be. When they go to prison, they are fortunate to have the rights they get. If they mess up or try and act like children then some of the things they get should be taken from them just as if they were at home and were being punished.
