NCJ Number
70225
Date Published
1980
Length
47 pages
Annotation
A section-by-section update of the parent volume, 'Constitutional Rights of Prisoners,' is presented, including recent changes in the law through calendar year 1979.
Abstract
Supplement topics include prisoners' rights to visitation and association; prisoners' rights to use the mail; isolated confinement; religion in prison; legal services; parole; the right to rehabilitation programs, medical aid, and right to life; the civil and criminal liabilities of prison officials; and additional litigation. Two Supreme Court cases relating to parole and other rights are discussed. The impact of the two 1979 Supreme Court decisions is significant, and many 'well-settled' principles should be reexamined in view of these decisions. The main thrust of the doctrine emerging from Bell v. Wolfish and Greenholtz v. Nebraska Penal Inamates is a stern warning to the lower Federal courts that they must cease being the final arbiter of discretionary decisions made by prison, parole, and probation administrators and defer more to the legislative and executive branches of government. An appendix presenting constitutional amendments and a table of cases are provided.