Ethical Treatment of Prisoners in the United States

Executive Summary

The paper discusses about the Ethical Treatment of Prisoners in the United States, it also includes the history and origin of prisons, the emergence of the prison took place with a solitary confinement in the treatment of delinquency. Currently, the prisoners undergo various mistreatments and approaches that are categorized unethical. The overcrowding, racism, health concerns violate the human rights. Thus, incarceration is not only a social and political issue but also has become a public health problem, since many people are jailed each year. The prison today is a legacy of these ideals are not mutually exclusive, the prison is justified more or less according to the places and periods in terms of these four ideals of confinement. It is found that the utilitarianism theory calls for strict punishment keeping in view an eye for an eye philosophy. However punishment becomes void if the potential benefits of punishment (deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation) outweigh the suffering inflicted on the condemned. On the other hand, the unethical treatment can be rectified using the relativism approach which goes for the societal perception of a particular issue.

Ethical Treatment of Prisoners

Introduction

Currently, the status of the prisoners is representative of the unethical way they are treated throughout the U.S. Prisoners' rights advocates argue that not enough attention is called to the plight of prisoners, who they say face unduly harsh and cruel conditions, even though the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution explicitly bans the use of "cruel and unusual punishment." Opponents of the prisoners' rights movement, however, maintain that prisoners in the U.S. are treated as fairly as they should be. Specifically, on a purely material, overpopulation is the cause of a considerable number of failures. Distribution of meals is two times longer than expected under normal and cold dishes arrive in the cells; capacity in hot water of the institution are insufficient for the number of showers regulatory group travel require much more time the capacity of sports facilities are quickly outdated, the number of places in workshops or training is inadequate, access to visiting rooms can also become extremely difficult.

The Issue

Mistreatment of Prisoners and Overcrowding

Supporters of prisoners' rights argue that the mistreatment of prisoners is blatantly unconstitutional. The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution says, "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted." Prisoners' rights advocates maintain that the neglectful and abusive ways many prisoners are allegedly treated in the U.S. amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, and are therefore unconstitutional (Tonry,2003,98-123).

Advocates of prisoners' rights say that the people responsible for the current state of the U.S. prison system have perverted the ideals of that system by neglecting prisoners' essential rights. Chance Martin, a social worker living in Washington, D.C., says that the U.S. prison system has "retreat from rehabilitation toward a system that relies purely on punishment." Indeed, many supporters of prisoners' rights say that prison administrators have forgotten that being taken out of society and placed in prison ...