Prisoners’ Rights

For this paper, first read the following:

· Supermax Prisons

· The new civil death: Rethinking punishment in the era of mass conviction

· Solitary Confinement and Supermax Prisons: A Human Rights and Ethical Analysis

· Supermax Prisons: Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading , and

· Hey, I think we’re unconstitutionally alone now: the Eighth Amendment protects social interaction as a basic human need

Prisoners have sometimes been described as having suffered civil death once imprisoned. This means they have lost almost all their civil rights as prisoners once they have been sentenced. While the civil death model has been abandoned by most states, convicted felons have been denied the right to vote and to possess firearms. Prisoners have also sued prisons for cruel and unusual punishment as it relates to their confinement in supermax prisons. In your initial post, address the following:

· What rights, if any, do you believe a convicted felon or inmate should possess? Should the individual possess any rights or have these rights been forfeited?

· Cite an argument for prisoners to have rights and identify those rights you would allow them to exercise.

· Cite one possible negative consequence of allowing prisoners too many rights or freedoms.