NCJ Number
100932
Date Published
1986
Length
397 pages
Annotation
This text examines the evolution of prisoners' rights in the United States from the original hands-off policy that allowed considerable discretion in prison administration through increasing judicial determination of inmates' constitutional and other rights.
Abstract
The first chapter uses Supreme Court and lower court rulings to show how legal conditions have operated to defeat gains in the area of prisoners' rights. The following two chapters examine changes that have given prisoners access to the courts and provided remedies for violations and intrusions. The next three chapters examine the need for administrative regulations and control, disciplinary procedures, and due process mechanisms for the redress of inmate grievances. Subsequent chapters examine the rights of special inmate groups, such as women, detainees, and prospective probationers. Specific rights considered include those concerning conditions of confinement, labor, medical and psychiatric treatment, religion, communication, and visitation. Legal aspects of prisoners' claims of rights to privacy and property also are examined. Concluding chapters discuss the diminishing role of the Federal courts in implementing correctional policy and the consequences of this change. Case and subject indexes, approximately 200 references.