Essay On Prisoners Rights In America

Prisoners Rights in America America’s prison system had been a breeding ground for systemic injustice and human rights violations for decades until the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Prior to the 1960s, prisoners in the United States were severely mistreated and neglected due to the idea that once prisoners were incarcerated, they forfeited the rights given to them in the Bill of Rights. In the 1960s it was proven that even if you are incarcerated, you still are protected by the rights provided to every U.S citizen in the Bill of Rights. In the modern day, the mistreatment of prisoners has shifted from being direct abuse such as beatings, to indirect incompetence of the system that they have to live and abide by. While cases like Cooper

One of the most common problems with prisons in America today is how they are all overcrowded. One reason that prisons keep receiving more prisoners is the fact that the reoffending rate among prisoners is extremely high. According to the article “Recidivism Rate by State 2023”, 44% of criminals released from prison return within their first year out. For comparison, according to the U.K government, the average reoffending rate in the U.K is around 25%. That is almost a 20% difference between the countries which just goes to emphasize the glaring issue of reoffending rates in America. This also affects the overcrowding problem since nearly 50% of all prisoners who are released from prison, just end up going back to prison within a short amount of time because they have to resort to illegal means in order to make a living because that is all that they know how to do. Another issue that prisons in the U.S are facing is the inhumane conditions that prisoners are still forced to live in where they lack availability to healthcare, access to basic necessities, and unacceptably high levels of abuse and violence within prisons. According to the article “Prison Violence Overview” by Study.com, “around 20% of inmates report being victims of sexual violence, and 8% of prison deaths are related to violence”. Out of the 1.2 million prisoners in the U.S as of 2021, that is around 240 thousand prisoners that reported being victims of sexual violence in prisons. This not only reinforces how there are still many problems with the prison system in the U.S, but it also emphasizes that these issues are contributing to the worsening state of prisons and prisoners welfare. Nevertheless, steps are still trying to be taken in order to improve the general living conditions of prisoners in the U.S through the use of more effective rehabilitation programs and increased funding to