What Are The Major Prisoners’ Rights Issues?

What are the major prisoners’ rights issues at the moment?

According to the ACLU, there are many problems with incarceration in the U.S. This article discusses many of the biggest prisoners’ rights issues.

Due to the “politicization of criminal justice policy”, according to the ACLU, prisons disproportionately “burden” the poor as well as persons of color. What this then means is that many prisoners then suffer because of terrible prison conditions and discrimination. These conditions include long-solitary confinement, poor healthcare, abysmal mental healthcare.

Prisons also limit or disallow prisoners to communicate with the outside world, either through reading, writing, speaking, or practicing religion, to an extent that is, according to the ACLU, “beyond what is necessary for institutional security.”The ACLU argues that these activities are critical for the prisoners to be able to keep some of their humanity. Additionally, another major point the ACLU makes is that by curtailing these activities, it limits the oversight the outside world can conduct on the prisons. This means that more unlawful and cruel abuses can go unheard.

The U.S. has the highest prison incarceration rate in the world. The rate is many times higher than the next highest country. The U.S. also has no oversight over the prison system. The U.S. prison system needs major reform, however, it may be a long and slow process due to its privatization and entrenchment in politics.

For more information about prisoners’ rights, visit the ACLU’s website.