The scope of human rights, as stated in the constitution, is that all people are entitled to the fundamental rights. The rights are extended to criminals serving jail sentence in prison. Although the inmates are imprisoned for the crimes they have committed against the society and breaking the law, they are also protected by the constitution (Siegel, 2012, p.647). While in prison, the inmates’ rights are limited. They do not, for example, enjoy the freedom of movement since they are confined. The main purpose of the confinement is to rehabilitate them and transform the inmates into good members of the society. The custody of prisoners should be done in a humane way that promotes their transformation process and supports their character change. The justice system has granted inmates some substantive rights while in prison to promote their welfare. The prisoners are entitled to access to courts legal services and material. They also have the freedom of expression and press; the inmates also have the freedom of religion and right to medical attention.
The constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment to inmates as well as racial segregation (Siegel & Worrall, 2013, p. 294). During their jail terms, prisoners who feel that their rights have been violated have a right to challenge their confinement. The procedure for challenging custody is not different for inmates in federal and state correction facilities. The standard cost of filling such a problem is five dollars in both situations. Before filing a challenge with the courts, an inmate should exhaust all the internal mechanisms such as presenting their complaint to the management of the facility (Siegel & Worrall, 2013, p. 298). In my view, the charge inmates have to pay to file the challenge is unnecessary. The role of a correction facility should be to transform a criminal and not torture them. Inmates should, therefore, be allowed to complain freely about the condition in confinement.
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"Inmates Rights and Special Circumstances".
The management of prisoners with special needs is an extraordinarily difficult task. People with mental or physical disabilities require particular attention in prison (Roman, 2011). There are four issues which the management of the facilities has to handle to ensure that they are comfortable. The issue of security is paramount to the people with special needs since they are venerable to attacks from other inmates. A solution to this problem is to house them in a separate wing from the ordinary prisoners. Inmates with special needs may require additional attention such as when doing their normal activities such as washing and feeding. The prison should encourage the people with disabilities to assist each other since they might pose a danger to the officers if they were offering them assistance. The provision of unique facilities which can accommodate people with disabilities such as providing lanes for wheelchairs is also another issue that requires to be addressed. Persons with disabilities are prone to diseases and infections and, therefore, require constant medical checkups (Roman, 2011). The facility should hire a medic who can monitor the health of such inmates to ensure that they are healthy.
Supermax prisons were introduced in the United States to curb the issue of prison break and to secure inmates considered to be very dangerous to be kept in an ordinary prison. The facilities hold the inmates in seclusion (Www2.nycbar.org, 2011). The prisoners are not allowed to interact with one another. The inmates are also not provided with any information regarding the outside world. The supermax confinement is certainly a violation of the eight amendments since it denies the inmates their rights. A correction facility should be allowed treat prisoners in a humane manner to aid in their transformation (Www2.nycbar.org, 2011). The supermax confinement can lead to the radicalization of the inmates making them, even more, dangerous to the society once they are released.
