Prison Inspection and the Protection of Prisoners' Rights - Essay Example

Although this very important civil right is no longer existent within the imprisoned population, the United States law, interpretation of the Constitution, and prior Supreme Court rulings have indicated that the broad majority of civil rights granted by the Bill of Rights and other fundamental determinants of United States law must be upheld in both the case of the general population and prisoners.

One of the first and most important of these rights is the eighth amendment. In short, the eighth amendment prohibits the United States government from posting excessive bail or utilizing “cruel or unusual punishment” as a means of punishing/rehabilitating a particular criminal offense. This is perhaps the most important right and privilege of all as it was further defined by the Supreme Court in 1848 to preclude any form of inhumane treatment; of two and inclusive of those inhumane treatments that might not be capital in nature.

This understanding has been upheld by subsequent courts such as the supreme court of Massachusetts which found that the state had violated the Eighth Amendment by keeping prisoners in an antiquated prison infested with rodents and insects (Owers, 2010).