Essay Sample on Rights and Special Circumstances

Introduction

The US constitution guarantees human rights for everyone including prisoners. It is the spirit of the constitution of the United States that nobody will get away the rights of anyone in the country as that may be unconstitutional. The philosophy of the constitution guarantees these permanent rights even to prisoners or those perceived to be lawbreakers. In this assignment, I am an imaginary commissioner on the board of a state prison where I will be giving a recommendation on inmate's rights and special circumstances.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

Legal Mechanisms in Which an Inmate Can Challenge His or Her Confinement

An inmate can challenge his confinement through the different legal mechanism. This mechanism may include but not limited to filing a state of habeas corpus action with an aim of determining whether an inmate's detention is lawful or not a decision which is to be made by the courts. If the state remedies are exhausted an inmate can file federal habeas corpus action for a remedy on his sentence. The inmate will need to claim and prove the abuse of his or her constitutional rights (Jenness and Calavita, 2017).

When the inmates challenge their confinements there are costs that arise. These costs include the cost of Medicare and the provision of special care for those with special needs. This is because in most cases these are the bases on which inmates challenge their confinement and the state can be forced to take care of them which comes with costs. Some prisons demand that inmates pay for their upkeep and Medicare which is costly and when challenging their confinements, they are motivated to even challenge confinement because they are a force to pay for the cost of their confinement. Correctional facilities spend over 8.1 billion dollars on prison health care services. This objectively gives a view of some of the costs of confinement (Jenness and Calavita, 2017).

The Grievance Process

The current US constitution guarantees a fair trial and grievance process for incarcerated individuals for example in the state of Illinois. An inmate can start a grievance process by filing a complaint with the correctional staff. The matter is then forwarded to the prison Chief Administrative Officer after which the matter is taken over by the Director of the institution to try and address the issue that remains unresolved in the interest of the inmate (Jenness and Calavita, 2017).

Critiquing the Grievance process

The grievance process is good for the inmate as it provides an opportunity for review of incarceration. This is mostly a frivolous activity and research has shown that inmates win only a few cases of the many grievances filed for example in the state of Illinois. The grievance process can also be abused by a prisoner which mostly leads to time and resource wastage. All prisoners wish to be out of incarceration but that is not the reality. They will try and use all means to avoid confinement hence the process of grievance is abuse in trying to be free.

Inmates With Special Needs

There are inmates with special needs. The five largest groups of inmates include prisoners with mental care needs, prisoners with disabilities, the minorities and indigenous people, foreign national prisoners and LGBT prisoners. Though their needs are different, they are special. Prisoners with mental health issues need regular medication and the prison services should provide that together with regular counselors as this will help them access the services regularly when need be (Jenness and Calavita, 2017).

Prisoners with disability contribute to a significant number of special needs in prison. Their special needs should be identified by its inability to walk, inability to talk, inability to stand etc and the necessary supportive equipment and therapy provided. Their health needs should also be given special care in addition to getting special treatment based on the nature of their disability because they cannot perform duties like normal prisoners and their rights are guaranteed in the constitution. Minorities eg blacks suffer from racisms from fellow prisoners and wardens. The management should introduce rules that prohibit any form of discrimination based on color or race. Foreign nationals should be provided with an opportunity to talk with their family members who live in their home country. It helps them deal with the loneliness that comes with being jailed in a foreign land. LGBT prisoners have unique challenges. Some feel like they are women and should be treated as so while the official put them in male facilities. They should be treated with care by the management and a counselor provided on regular basis as opposed to abuse and discrimination (Schmidt and Sikkink, 2019).

The Death Penalty Violates Offenders’ Rights Against

Use of the death penalty violates the prisoners' rights as guaranteed in the constitution as everyone has a right to life and nobody should be allowed to take it. Countries around the world convert death sentences to life sentences and thus it would be wrong for the US, a world leader to promote the injustice. The eighth amendment of the US constitution puts the right to life as a basic right for everyone including those in confinement (Kletzel, 2018).

Conclusion

Confinement is not the end of life. The United States Constitution guarantees inmate's rights and no one should be allowed to violate them. The inmates with special needs should be given special care to ensure their rights are as well guaranteed to reduce cases of filing for grievance every time they feel their rights have been violated. Everyone has their human rights guaranteed by the constitution and that should be respected by everyone including those in authority.

References

Jenness, V., & Calavita, K. (2017). Prisoner Grievances, Rights, and the Culture of Control. Ohio St. J. Crim. L., 15, 211.

Kletzel, G. (2018). The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights' new Strategic Plan: an opportunity for true strengthening. The International Journal of Human Rights, 22(9), 1249-1266.

Schmidt, A., & Sikkink, K. (2019). Breaking the Ban? The Heterogeneous Impact of US Contestation of the Torture Norm. Journal of Global Security Studies, 4(1), 105-122.