What rights should prisoners have?

[7 of 11]

Should prisoners have the same basic human rights that everyone else has or should they be treated like animals by the system?

I want to see a few replys then Im gonna post some sad stories rearding this topic.

[Keith]

Prisoners should be always assured their right to life and protection from cruel and unusual punishment. They should also be assured the right to protect themselves via free lawyers and a way to research their case while in prison.

[Yarn211]

Prisoners do recieve a cruel and unusual punishment. There put into a bunch of bullys who steal their stuff while the gaurds ignore it. Then for long periods of time there put into enclosed rooms with none to talk to or anything to do wich drives them insane. And for the death penalty (im not necasary against excution) there shocked to death i think itd be much easier just to shoot them rather then making their death painfull. For all these reasons prisoners come out of prison worse then they were coming in.

[Spectre]

Originally posted by Yarn211
And for the death penalty (im not necasary against excution) there shocked to death i think itd be much easier just to shoot them rather then making their death painfull. For all these reasons prisoners come out of prison worse then they were coming in.

I find this funny, lol, they don't exactly leave prison after getting the chair. Yes I understand what you meant, but still...

As for felons, I am a cold-hearted conservative on a lot of issues. This is no exception. Once you take away someone else's right to live, I don't think anything should be guaranteed to you anymore. I only mean this for people on life sentences, as for those who are to be rehabilitated, yes, you need to be treated badly so you get scared straight. We need prisons to be tough, brutal places.

[7 of 11]

Originally posted by Spectre
I find this funny, lol, they don't exactly leave prison after getting the chair. Yes I understand what you meant, but still...

As for felons, I am a cold-hearted conservative on a lot of issues. This is no exception. Once you take away someone else's right to live, I don't think anything should be guaranteed to you anymore. I only mean this for people on life sentences, as for those who are to be rehabilitated, yes, you need to be treated badly so you get scared straight. We need prisons to be tough, brutal places.


...and when they get out in five years and are total psycos because of thier horrid experince?

[steeper]

they deserve the same rights as other humans, they didn't become animals by stealing.

*shadow*

[dargo21]

Yes, just because you are arrested or if you commit a felony, you should still have the basic rights granted in the constitution. Nothing can take those away, legally.

[Starseed]

Depends on the crime. In Asia, they cut your hand off if you steal. When my grandpa was doing servie over there, he said you could leave your wallet on a table for an hour and come back and get it and it would still be there. People don't steal because they're afraid of the consequences. Maybe if we did something like that, there wouldn't be crime. It's just something to think about.

[7 of 11]

Well thats because that is what the sentence mandated. In America when you are sentenced the only thing you are suppose to lose is your frredom, not your teeth or anal virginity or mental or bodily health!

[steeper]

anal virginity is a rare thing in jail :P

*lurk*

[7 of 11]

butt it should not be :-)

[Sassy]

I hate to break it to you but anal virginity is not at all a rare thing in either jail or prison.

Anyway, the only rights that prisoners should lose are things such as voting and ability to leave whenever they please. They're not animals and shouldn't be treated as thus.

[Halcyon]

I agree, Sassy. People have rights and should be punished--I think punishment should be more than simple incarceration, but it must remain humane and rehabilitive, which is the point of the system, is it not? Not just to punish but to prevent the reoccurance of the crime.

[Heretic]

It really depends on what philosophy you use for corrections.
Your choices:
A. Harsh (entirely punishment). Cutting off hands, digits etc. Long jail sentences, harsh conditions, poor treatment of prisoners. Pros: Low numbers of reoffenders. Cons: Violation of basic human rights.
B. Correctional Punishment (mostly punishing, but also strive for rehabilitation). Mediocre prision conditions, but attempts are made to rehabillitate short term offenders to become members of society. Pros: Some offenders may never commit a crime again, and may live successful lives. Cons: Other offenders will reoffend for the rest of their lives.
C. Rehabilitation (little punishment). Offenders spend a majority of their time in classrooms, shops or outside the prison doing odd jobs. Counseling is available to all offenders, and the goal is for everyone to lead normal lives. Parole is easily attainable even after a fraction of the sentence has been served Pros: A larger number of prisoners may lead prosperous lives. Cons: Some may regard the rehabilitation program as a free ride and continue to commit crimes.


Here, less developed countries use A, have lower re-offenders, but still a high crime rate, not to mention human rights violations. United States uses mainly B, but some states are moving into C. Canada is using C, but most crimes are commited by people who have been in and out of the system already.


What I'm trying to say, is that lawmakers have to weigh the benefits of using different correctional tactics, but through out the first and second worlds, the prisoners still have basic human rights.

[ShyGuy5000]

All I think is that the death penalty should not be allowed, ever.
They should have to live with what they did, in prison, forever, or a really really long time. And no death penalty especially for criminals with familys, especially children. Young children who would be scared (if there parent did something non-child related).
I read some site that had a lot on stopping the death penalty, wish I could find it again...

[PeaceFroggy]

We really need to think about long term affects here. While it may be satisfying to see someone tortured, either physically or mentally for their crimes, once they get out, the same thing happens again. While the rehabilitative method is less satisfying, in the long run, I believe it is most successful. Of course, there are times when rehabilitation is not an option, I'm certainly not denying that.

[7 of 11]

These are the strories that I promised to post about the prisoners abuse in America in this thread.

They are sickening and so be warned!





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Story I

Stephen J. Schwika, of White Haven in rural Carbon County, lost both his arms near the shoulders in an accident. The crippling injury left him virtually helpless without artificial arms to aid him.
When he was 41 years old, he was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol ("DUI"). Because prosecutors and judges have no sense, the disabled man was sentenced to served 90 days in the Luzerne County jail in Scranton in Northeastern Pennsylvania; real useful thing to do!

While in the Luzerne County Jail, Mr. Schwika's prostheses arm (by then he had only one that worked) was broken and he was left helpless. He was unable to do the most ordinary personal things for himself such as dress, use tableware or even turn on a water tap for a drink. The jail refused to have his artificial arm repaired and Mr. Schwika was left to struggle without help. He often had to go naked because he couldn't dress himself. He was forced to eat like an animal with his face buried in the meal tray. He had to go without showers and his fundamental personal hygiene was neglected. All the while, the prison staff ridiculed, taunted and jeered at the man.

The inhumane treatment of prisoners is not unusual in Pennsylvania and Luzerne County is no worse that many others.


Story II

Prison AIDS Epidemic
BY: Alice Nobel

Almost 1000 Pennsylvania state prisoners have HIV. About 75 of those infected are women. Of those infected, about 250 actually have AIDS. Except for so-called natural causes, AIDS kills more prisoners than all other causes combined. About 125 Pennsylvania prisoners have already died from the disease.
These numbers are significant because some infected persons are intimately sharing double cells with other prisoners. All the infected prisoners have daily contact with non-medical prison staff.

In addition to those in state prisons, about 950 prisoners in Pennsylvania's county jails have HIV including 220 in Philadelphia County. About 50 prisoners in county jails have already died from the disease.

The great majority of those who are infected are blacks. While the disease was most frequently contacted through homosexual and sexual contacts, some cases are traced to intervenus drug use and even tattooing.

All the 1900 infected prisoners are expected to die.


Story III


Email From Wyoming
By: LV Issat
A commercial firm named Wexford provides what passes as medical care in certain unfortunate state prisons. Profits are important to commercial firms. They are much less interested in prisoners.
Although we focus on Pennsylvania's prison horrors, we recently received the following email about a western atrocity. It may interest you, but we can make no warrant for accuracy.

"Jody B. Mapp, age 47, died October 31, 1998 at the hands of Wexford staff in Wyoming State Penitentiary, Rawlins, Wyoming from neglect. He had quadruple bypass surgery in April of 1998. He suffered from chest pains before and since. His meds were denied [to] him. He also suffered from hypertension and diabetes. His insulin was denied [to] him.

Dr. Claudette Zaremba was [the] last known physician in charge for Wexford there. I learned [that] she was licensed in California until 1999, but no known records can be found for practicing in Wyoming. Medical malpractice is at play and has been for a long time.

Jody's only crime was forgery so he could eat. Was that a crime to die for?"

We certainly encourage suits against any and all prison malpractice. If the operations were a little less profitable, maybe they would be made non-profit. Information from MANY prisoners in Pennsylvania is that the withdrawal of medication and thereby the increase of profit margins, is a very common practice for Wexford. A Wexford doctor, one of those third world imports, recently cut the asthma medication essential for the health of one of our regular prisoner correspondents.

[Keith]

Pennsylvania's justice system is sickening. 90% of people on death row are either black or hispanic, prisons are very under funded even for basic services(food, clean water, medical care), rehabilitation is almost non-existent. The cops were cleaned up in the 90's, but the prisons are still a despot.

Alot of these problems can be directly linked to privatization of prison operations. Now this is something I researched long before I was ever a Socialist, and I've read the same thing from very laissez-faire sources in my time as well. Many of these "prison corporations" have zero accountability. Private medical and food providers are hired by the Justice Department to give these services to prisons. These appointments are rarely given competition, by the way. Routinely, they will not adequately supply a subtenant level of food and are understaffed. Also, the food is rarely kept under FDA requirements of public health(none or very lousy refrigeration, food is kept longer then it should, and lotsa times meat isn't cooked enough). Food poisoning and cases of e-coli and samanellia are common. Medical services just suck. Medication is often stopped for bullshit reasons(especially expensive anti-depressants or seizure-stopping drugs). Insulin is usually in short supply and not given on a daily basis. Even for sex offenders, sex drive repression medication only given sporadically. Though round-the-clock medical care is required by law, it is often not available.