Week 13 Chapter 11 - These chapters revolve around

Week 13 Chapter 11

Part 1 of 3

These chapters revolve around prisons, jails and prisoner rights.  A prison is a state or federal confinement facility that has custodial authority over adults sentenced to confinement.  A jail is a confinement facility by an agency of local government (Schmalleger, 2018). 

The use of prisons in the United States is a relatively new concept.  It has only been in effect approximately 200 years, before this there was public humiliations, floggings, exile or even death. Today the use of prisons varies from state to state but the one notion that remains the same is that prisoners have rights.  The 8th & 14th amendments of the Constitution involve the protection of those involved in the criminal justice system.  How are these amendments relevant in today's society regarding prisoner rights?

Part 2 of 3

Throughout history there have been court case brought by prisoners to protect those rights.  Many of these cases revolve around the conditions within the prisons, such as overcrowding, medical and mental care, and religious freedom to name a few.   Some of these cases are: Brown vs. Plata; Wilson vs. Sieter & Ruiz vs. Estelle. (pages 400-402)

Based on this information and the rest of the chapter, what are the most accurate reasons that prisons would be considered overcrowded?  What doctrine has the Supreme Court adopted to consider prisoner complaints regarding the conditions of the prisons?

Schmalleger, F. (2018). Criminal justice: A brief introduction (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.