Unfair Treatments?

Jordan Smith
Bimonte
English 91
February 9, 2015

Prisons violate rights

The modern American prison
system has come a long way since
its funding, but it has not
progressed far enough. Inmates
today are subject to having their
basic human rights violated and
mistreated by the same institution
thats in charge of their care.
Inmates can be subjected to
torture, inadequate food and sleep,
and unjust acts corporal
punishments. According to a study
from the U.S. Department of Justice
the number of inmate deaths in jails
increased each year between 2000
and 2007 (from 904 to 1,102 inmate
deaths), increasing 22% during this
period.

an inadequate amount of sleep,

and abuse by correctional officers.
According to Rights of the
Convicted more vicious forms of
beatings and similar physical
punishments have been clearly
barred (Rights of the Convicted).
Some prisons have actually killed
people in procedures at prisons. For
example a man was killed during a
prison procedure were you extract
the prisoner from their cell (The
Case Against Torture). In the
Middle East some countries use a
torture devise called
waterboarding. Waterboarding is a
torture technique to make a
prisoner talk. This statement
proves The recent senate reports
describes the CIAS use of torture
techniques including waterboarding
on individuals if detained in a
secret prison (A Prison Routine
Turns Deadly). These things happen
all over the world and it doesnt
matter how old you are what
gender you are, but race is usually
the main cause of why it happens.

Mistreatment in prison
In prisons, inmates suffer
mistreatments done to them such
as an inadequate amount of food,

Gender, Age, and Race

Unfair Treatments?
What was brought up in the
last paragraph leads up to this
topic because only race is affected
on who it happens to and why it
happens to people. Most people
would assume that gender
violations in prison would be a
specific gender but thats not true.
These violations occur to female
and male inmates. People also
assume theyll get a fair trial but if
theres an all-white jury and youre
not the same race that could
impact the results. The inmates,
Derrick Stanley, 41; Andre Jacobs,
29, and Carrington Keys, 31, filed
their suit on Oct. 25. Travis
Matthews, 25, filed a similar suit on
Nov. 3 (Delazio). Those suits were
filled because those prisoners had
their rights broken. Women have
also had rights broken like in
Mexico hundreds of women were
murdered which is breaking their
human rights (Mexico City). This
proves that race is a huge factor on
your sentence time in prison. On a
racial bias affecting black
defendants more than whites for
similar crimes (Rights of the
Convicted). Thats why I dont think
most people get a fair trial because
the jury is all white.

Prisoners Rights
Prisoners have a lot of rights
some of the rights come straight
from the bill of rights. The prisoners

get rights from the 8th amendment

which states nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel and unusual
punishment inflicted (Rights of the
Convicted). The other rights they
have are the 5th amendment
(Rights of the Convicted). They also
have the right to not be charged
twice for the same crime. Experts
call it double jeopardy (Rights of
the Convicted). While theyre
locked up they might not get help
which leads me to the next topic.

Therapy and Organizations

When youre in there people say
you wont get help youll just do
your time and get out. According to
The Case Against Torture they
give you medication in there but
theres no therapy (The Case
Against Torture). This might not be
expert but its a personal one
because this person son was locked
up with a disease and was never
helped. There are organizations out
there but I have not found any.

People should be aware that

mistreatments like this happen to
people all the time. When heard
about it needs to bring up, so
everyone is aware so everyone
knows it happens. That way people
can fight against these broken
rights of the people in prison.

Unfair Treatments?

Work cited
The Case Against Torture. NYTimes.com Video Collection 2014. Student
Resources in Context
Web. 29 Jan. 2015.
Inmates suing prison claiming rights violations. Times leader [WilkesBarre,PA] 5 Nov. 2011.
Student Resources in Context. Web. 26 Jan. 2015.
A Prison Routine Turns Deadly. NYTimes.com Video Collection 2014. Student
Resources in
Context. Web. 29 Jan.2015
Rights of the Convicted. Civil Rights in America Journey. Student Resources
in Context. Web.
27 Jan. 2015.
United States Of America. Department of Justice. Bureau of Justice Statistics. Prison and Jail
Deaths in Custody, 2000-2009 - Statistical Tables. By Margaret E. Noonan And E. Ann
Carson. N.p.: n.p., 2011. Print.