Preview

Prisoners Should Be Prisoners Essay

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
2426 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Prisoners Should Be Prisoners Essay
Running head: SHOULD PRISONERS BE 1

Should Prisoners Be Treated as Human Beings?

SOC 120: Introduction to Ethics & Social Responsibility

June 10, 2012

SHOULD PRISONERS BE 2
Should Prisoners Be Treated as Human Beings? Some people believe that once a person commits a crime or breaks the law, they no longer get to exercise their human rights. In fact, they believe that prisoners do not deserve human rights. The treatment of these inmates come into question; especially when most facilities and prisons are overcrowded, receiving more mentally ill prisoners, and female incarceration is on the rise. The problem with some of society is they do not want prisoners to be treated with any common, human decency. They believe inmates have it great by eating healthy and receiving adequate medical care. Being able to work out and learn new trades for the future has some of society’s members upset with paying tax monies for these types of “amenities”. I believe that every human has the right to meals and preventive health care.
…show more content…
Ethical egoism argues that our moral decisions should be based on our desires and goals (Mosser, 2010). Our personal goals and desires are what motivate us make many of the decisions we make in our lives. If an outcome does not appeal to our goals and desires, we tend to find a way to dispute that. Finding a person’s virtue may conflict with our personal goals and desires. A person may have been robbed once before, and now has a biased toward anyone that has committed a crime, regardless of their motivation to commit the offense. If the victim’s personal desire is to see any person who commits theft to “rot” in prison, they will not consider the virtue ethics of a prisoner, therefore, the unethical treatment of prisoners seeming completely ethical to the ethical

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    America land of the free and home of the great, But in all reality is America as great is…

    • 835 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In, “The Jail,” John Irwin describes what it is like for a criminal to initially be arrested and further processed into a prison. It is at this time that a person first experiences a complete loss of freedom. Before, they had choices and could do as they wished with their lives, whether it be positive or negative. Once under arrested, these people have arguably less rights than slaves did hundreds of years prior. They have to be told when to sit, stand, where to walk, and when they can eat. I do not want to be misunderstand and say that this is always a bad thing. These measures are sometimes necessary in order to control and manage people who have not been able to abide by society’s laws.…

    • 729 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    No, because in some prisons, prisoners are being dehumanized and stripped away from their constitutional rights. Some prisons do not allow prisoners any to have the personal property they are guaranteed such as: watches, tobacco products, snacks, or toiletries, because they believe it will start up theft or gambling, but it’s a part of their constitutional rights to be able to have access to those things. Another constitutional right that prisoners are not granted is the right to free speech, which is the 1st amendment in the Bill of Rights. Prisoners are degraded and disciplined by employees for openly speaking on mistreatment within the system. Is this ethically right? No, because as the 1st amendment grants us this right. Since a person refuses to live by society’s rules, they do not receive the full benefits of the rest of the society when they become a felon. That’s understandable, but why grants constitutional rights that are said “can’t be taken away”, yet they still are. So to take away prisoners’ constitutional rights I think is unethical. Equality under the law should be highly enforced within every individual of the society. As long as they’re living, no one person should be treated better or badly because of the crime they committed. If we were to commit an offense would we want our rights taken away? We have to look at it from other prospective before we make a final decision and that’s what I…

    • 2107 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “Inmates of American prisons do not have the full constitutional civil rights of an ordinary citizen, but they do receive some protection under the Constitution. Among these rights are the right to a punishment that is not cruel and unusual, due process, the right of access to parole and the right not to be discriminated against.” (Faranda)…

    • 1840 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Inmates Rights Paper

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Prisoner rights operate under the understanding that although a prisoner will be deprived of his or her freedom he or she will still be entitled to basic human rights, and these rights must not be infringed upon. Prisoner rights are an important set of checks and balances to help avoid illegal activity and regulate the actions of the corrections department in the criminal justice system. Even though these individuals have committed a crime, he or she is still a person and remains protected for certain basic rights guaranteed to him or her under the United States Constitution.…

    • 1327 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Private prisons scattered across the country house tens of thousands inmates. The companies behind some of the largest private prisons claim they are lifting the weight of taxpayer dollars funding federal prisons. In a billion dollar industry, many find it hard to believe that they’re not working for their own best interest. Humans rights organizations across the country have challenged the corporations behind the industry. These groups argue that this system doesn’t work to rehabilitate prisoners, but rather set their inmates up for failure; reaping in more profit for themselves.…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    I believe that criminals should retain certain civil rights because they are in fact humans at the end of the day and are still American Citizens. I believe they should still have access to certain rights because to me, it would be inhumane to completely abolish all the rights of the individual that is being punished. I believe that there should be rights that are considered permissable but that are not in contradiction to the rules or regulations of the prison where the individual is captivated. These individuals all come from somewhere, either a family, friends, or a work environment. I believe that the lives of many are impacted by the restraint of the individual and if the individual that is convicted can't stay sane due to the lack…

    • 200 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Should prisoners have the right to vote? In the US not all states have the same laws. Depending on the states law, the person with a felony or misdemeanor can or cannot vote. It also depends what type of felony the person has committed. The right to vote is privilege that we all get, but in some states it can be taken away permanently. “Felon voting has not been regulated federally although some argue that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act can be applied to felon disenfranchisement and that Congress has the authority to legislate felon voting in federal elections” ("State Felon Voting Laws."). The right to vote should be taken away if the person becomes a prisoner.…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    For many years the state and federal courts have spent large amount of time and effort in cases involving constitutional rights of incarcerated prisoners. The courts have made many rulings over the conflicts of prisoner’s rights when it comes to use of force, mail, religious rights, legal procedures, and parole. In addition, the courts faced the issue of the prisoner’s constitutional rights to receive medical aid and proper medical treatment. Many prisoners claim that they are not receiving proper medical attention that they require, or that the prison medical staffs are being neglectful of the inmates medical needs. The courts have ruled in favor to better improve the medical staff and medical treatment for prisoners but there are limitations. Moreover, inmates must understand that…

    • 511 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people hold the point of view that criminals chose to give up their rights and freedoms when they commit a crime. On the other side, prisoner advocates and those interested primarily in rehabilitation feel detainees should be allotted the same rights as ordinary citizens. Examples of these rights include the right to a fair hearing before being punished by prison officials (punitive actions within a jail could include being moved to solitary confinement or transferred to a higher security prison), the right not to endure arbitrary searches or lockdown and the right to fair and respectful treatment by prison staff. This is argued on the basis that prisoners will not learn how to function in society and will have limited success in their treatment programs if they are constantly subject to the frustrating reality of limited personal…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Overpopulation In Prison

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages

    It can be agreed, prisons could benefit from proper rehabilitation for inmates, so they can transition into society, without becoming a reoccurring offender. There are different measures that could be taken. If the United States would adopt more of the policies overpopulation and reoccurring offenders could be an issue in the past. If more prisons in the United States could adopt the policies, prisoners would not carry such a burden of a stigma, and begin to be treated as actual members of the…

    • 915 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Inmate Victimization

    • 5700 Words
    • 23 Pages

    Everyone has rights. A man working in a factory, a mother taking care of her children, a girl attending college, a boy playing football, they all have rights, but what about criminals? Yes, everyone has rights. What happened when those rights are violated? Who does a criminal have to turn to? Or even who will believe them? Inmate on inmate victimization is not uncommon especially in physical abuse, but what about the sexual abuse? And what about when it is not just inmate on inmate victimization, what if it is guard on inmate victimization? This is not right, not only are most inmates stripped down to their basic rights; there are some that are even having those torn away from them as well. These are problems that have not been addressed until recently and still lacking solid solutions. Although much has been done to prevent abuse, especially sexual abuse, there is still not much to be done until after the fact.…

    • 5700 Words
    • 23 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Taking care of patients in prison is a challenging job. As a caregiver to inmates, your job is naturally difficult because you are isolated from them and can’t be constantly observant of their behaviors. So how can you determine if an inmate needs inpatient care?…

    • 519 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Life Prisoners

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Prisoners are people like us without one important right and that is liberty. They lacked freedom. They have no rights to complain even in the food they eat, place where they sleep, their living conditions. Sometimes they are forced to eat meals in their cells, in which they have bathroom, or outside, sitting on the ground with the…

    • 440 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    correctional reforms

    • 2417 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Prisoners and detainees in many local, state and federal facilities, including those run by private contractors, confront conditions that are abusive, degrading and dangerous. Soaring prison populations due to harsh sentencing laws—which legislators have been reluctant to change—and immigrant detention policies coupled with tight budgets have left governments unwilling to make the investments in staff and resources necessary to ensure safe and humane conditions of confinement. Such failures violate the human rights of all persons deprived of their liberty to be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person, and to be free from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.…

    • 2417 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays