Incarcerated persons still have rights, even if they do not have all of the rights that we are so used to having in our daily lives. Depending on the charges, what stage of the criminal process their case is in, and where they are being incarcerated, there are many prisoner rights that are available.
Pretrial Inmates vs. Other Inmates
All inmates have basic human rights, just as if they were not incarcerated, but those that are being held during the pretrial stage have slightly different rights. These rights include being housed in humane facilities, and they cannot be treated as if they are guilty while waiting to attend their trial. In general, all other inmates have the rights discussed below.
Inmate Rights
First Amendment Rights: Freedom of Speech and Religion
Inmates do retain their first amendment rights, as long as they do not interfere with their inmate status when exercising those rights. If exercising their rights, such as freedom of speech, interferes with the correctional facility’s objectives (such as discipline, security, and order), those rights will be curbed. Prison officials can screen all forms of communication with the outside world. This includes opening incoming mail, reading outgoing mail, listening to phone calls, etc.
Discrimination
Just as if they weren’t incarcerated, inmates retain the right to be free from discrimination. This includes discrimination based on age, race, ethnicity, and religion.
Eight Amendment Rights: Freedom from Inhumane Treatment
The eighth amendment protects inmates from inhumane treatment and anything that could be considered to be a cruel and unusual punishment. While the eighth amendment does not list what classifies as a cruel and unusual punishment, the Supreme Court has upheld that these types of punishments would include ones such as beheading, burning alive, public dissection, disemboweling, and drawing and quartering. “Cruel and unusual” also consists of any treatments that would violate a person’s dignity.
Sexual Harassment and Sex Crimes
An inmate’s freedom from sexual harassment and sex crimes applies to both other inmates and the facility’s personnel. Courts across the country have held facility security guards and administration, and government officials responsible for allowing such harassment and crimes to happen and for putting programs in place that systematically inflict such things onto inmates.
Medical and Mental Health Care
Inmates are entitled to medical and mental health care while incarcerated. However, treatments only need to be minimally adequate. For example, those that are incarcerated and have life-threatening illnesses are only given the minimal treatment that is necessary to keep them alive and comfortable, not to extend their life or fight the illness.
Disabled Inmates
As is with medical and mental healthcare, disabled inmates are only entitled to basic accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. This act ensures that disabled inmates have access to the same facilities that the non-disabled do but does not guarantee that the conditions of the accommodations are the best available, meaning that they often aren’t.
Right to Courts and to Complain About Facility Conditions
Inmates have the right to complain about facility conditions and can voice these concerns to both prison officials and the courts. In some cases, inmates who have been denied the right to complain have been placed into solitary confinement and have received civil judgments against the officials that placed them there.
What Rights Do Inmates Not Have?
The first right that an inmate loses is the right to privacy. Inmates are not protected from warrantless searches of their cells. Inmates that are a part of a work-release program or any other employment program are generally not subjected to employment laws, such as receiving minimum wage for their pay.
While there are few prisoner rights, they do still have those rights, and they can exercise them.
If you’re ever confused about your rights, call Gibson Bail Bonds. We’d be glad to help explain them to you.
