Prisoners rights

Russell A Leach

February 18, 2008





Prisoners Rights in the Criminal Justice system

Crary D. (12 Feb 2008) Law Curbing Inmates Lawsuits Questioned Associated Press







 In an article written for the Associated Press, David Crary discusses the impact a federal law curtailing incarcerated men and womens’rights to file lawsuits against the penal system has had on the prisoners welfare.
My purpose in this review is to examine the status of prisoner’s rights in the United States and abroad.
Smith (2007) discusses the Supreme Courts decisions limiting prisoners in the United States from filing frivolous lawsuits. Smith (2007) also relates the huge growth of the amount of people incarcerated in the US prison system causing a logjam in the judicial system. Smith (2007) then talks about the US systems well balanced approach to provide prisoners with fair and equitable treatment and redress during the William Rehnquist Supreme Court era.
In stark contrast Viljoen (2005) tells of the atrocious human rights violations and prisoner abuses in the prisons of the eleven African Union Nations visited by the Author. Viljoen (2005) discusses the African Unions’ efforts to address human rights issues and prison conditions in Africa. Kozlova (2008) talks about the Uzbekistan governments’ efforts to abolish torture and abuses in the jails and prisons of their country. The author discusses past abuses and relates torture and murder of prisoners at the hands of the guards and jailors in the Uzbek system (Kozlova 2007).
Kozlova (2007) also recounts the Uzbekistan Governments’ commitment to ensuring human and civil rights to prisoners in all of the municipal and federal penal institutions.
Zinger (2006) talks about the new approach in the Canadian criminal justice system to incarceration being more Spartan and more austere in its application of criminal punishment. Zinger (2006) cites the war on terror giving legitimacy to a more law and order approach to prison systems, which in turn can jeopardize civil rights of the prisoners. Zinger (2006) also communicates the need for more external oversight, to ensure human and civil rights for persons behind bars. Zinger (2006) conveys that the status of prisoners’ civil and human rights in Canada, The United States and most of Europe is by far more reasonable, than in most of Central and South America. He States that South American prisons are for the most part decaying buildings with poor sanitation and deplorable living conditions (Zinger 2006). Zinger (2006) also relates that the socioeconomic status of a country is not always reflected in its treatment of prisoners.
In 2000 Livingstone wrote about the European prisoners using the European Convention to address grievances and civil rights violations. Livingstone (2000) also related the need for a judicial review of prisoner’s grievances and judicial oversight of the prisons, instead of the prisoners having to appeal to international political bodies for redress. Livingstone (2000) also discusses the need for a European Union(EU) standard for prisoner’s rights within the jurisdiction and that an EU commission should be set up to address prisoner’s grievances. Robertson (2007) Talks about oversight in the American prison system as being “underdeveloped and uneven” (p.181). Robertson (2007) relates that violence and inmate on inmate crime is the real measure of our success or failure in the US penal system and that the system is failing. Robertson (2007) also cites the 93% reduction of homicides within U.S. Prisons since 1996 as not reflecting an improvement of conditions. Robertson (2007) Relates the drop in prison homicides coincided with a rise of more stringent controls of prisoner’s movements and freedoms. Robertson (2007) believes that the rights of prisoners to redress grievances have been vastly reduced by the 1996 prison litigation reform act. Robertson (2007) proposes that this is evident in that prisoner filed lawsuits that have made it to the appellate level have been reduced by 30%.
I believe that the literature reflects an atmosphere of disdain for the prison systems world wide. The literature in most of the Journals and Academic publications tend to be very critical of the prisons and not the prisoners. My opinion is that prisons are not meant to be pleasant places and that prisoners are not meant to dictate policy. That being said, I believe the strides that are being made in the prison systems are going to improve the life of the prisoners and help society reform and rehabilitate some of the criminal element in its care.





Crary D. (12 Feb 2008) Law curbing inmates lawsuits questioned Associated Press htp://news.findlaw.com/ap/other/1110//02-13-2008/20080213130500_06.html
Kozlova M. (January 7, 2008) The end of torture Transitions Online
Livingstone S. (2000) Prisoners rights in the context of European Convention on human rights Punishment & Society
V.2 Iss.3 p.309
Robertson J.E. (2007) Correctional case law 2006 Criminal Justice Review v.32 iss.2 p.181-202
Smith C.E. (Dec.2007) Prisoners rights and the Rehnquist Court era The Prison journal V.87 #4 p.457-476
Viljoen F. (2005) The Special rapporteur on prisons and conditions of detention in Africa Human Rights Quarterly
Zinger I. (April 2006) Human rights compliance and the role of external prison oversight Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice