NCJ Number
74245
Date Published
1980
Length
42 pages
Annotation
This article discusses prisoners' rights as a sociopolitical movement; identifies and evaluates its impacts, especially in regard to the role of the court; and assesses its significance.
Abstract
An historical overview of prisoners' rights in the U.S. is presented. A new era began in the 1960's in the wake of the civil rights and women's movements. Black Muslims, with the aid of jailhouse lawyers, succeeded in using the law to challenge the prison status quo. The rights movement was not composed solely of prisoners, however, on the involvement and efforts of free citizens, particularly lawyers and prison reform groups. Furthermore, the movement would not have been possible without activism in the Federal judiciary and the Supreme Court. In addition, Federal and State legislative and administrative activity, perhaps influenced by the judiciary, have aided the movement. Many studies have found that prisoners' rights cases have had a great impact, and that even some cases which were lost have resulted in legislative reform. The absence of a methodology for identifying impacts and the absence of criteria for judging their importance have resulted in contradictory evaluations of the movement. Narrow impact studies do not deal with the major secondary effects. They almost always focus on the ability of courts to achieve compliance with their decrees and on a few 'worst cases,' such as the Cummings and Tucker Prison Farms in Arkansas. Perhaps the question should not be whether a particular court intervention on behalf of prisoners was 'successful,' but whether it made a positive contribution to prisoners lives or to prison administration. To appreciate fully the impacts of the prisoners' rights movement on prisons and prisoners' lives, it is necessary to consider such secondary effects as changes in prison bureaucracies and personnel, public and political opinion, and the self-esteem of prisoners and prison officials. A list of 69 references is provided.