JAILS AND PRISONS: CORRECTIONS IN THE UNITED STATES

Prison as an Organizational Arrangement Physically confine offenders Deprivation of liberty Internment Holding facility Detain political prisoners, prisoners of conscience

Prison Operations Housing Feeding Laundry Medical Care Security and supervision Law library Religious services Gym Provision of programs and services

Architecture of Prisons Walnut Street Jail Auburn General features What does prison architecture communicate about norms, rules, values, and relationships that occur in prison?

Inmate Assignment and Security Supermax (terrorists, very dangerous) ◦ 23 hours per day locked up ◦ 1 hour of exercise ◦ Fed through hole ◦ No contact with other offenders ◦ Dim lighting, smaller cell Maximum or high security ◦ Highly secured perimeters ◦ Inmates monitored closely ◦ Low Guard-to-Inmate ratio

Inmate Assignment andSecurity Medium ◦ Constant and direct supervision ◦ Privileges like working can be earned Low ◦ Mandatory program participation ◦ Set up with offender’s release in mind

Corrections Officers (COs) Overwhelmed, stressed out, spread too thin, frustrated, suffering role conflict Physical dangers of job Loss of control (inmates) Abandonment (administration) Responses ◦ Overly punitive (assaultive, misuse discipline) ◦ Cynical – retreat, minimal effort

Prisoners’ Rights: Ruffin v. Commonwealth Prisoners are slaves of the state Convicted felons forfeit liberties, personal rights Offenders are “civilly dead” Decision stood for 90 years Prisoners – no standing to legallycomplain Courts justified in maintaining hands-off doctrine Prisoners abused, forced to live in horrific conditions, at the mercy of COs

Prisoners’ Rights: Civil Rights Movement Attorneys from civil rights movement shifted to prisoners’ rights movement 1960s – many successful legal challenges to corrections system Corrections’ population increasingly Black and Hispanic, so prisoners’ rights movement was like civil rights movement behind bars

Prisoners’ Rights: Early Cases Fulwood v. Clemmer (1962) ◦ Black Muslim recognized as a religion Cooper v. Pate (1964) ◦ Overturned Ruffin ◦ State prisoners have constitutional rights ◦ Can sue in federal court under Civil Rights Act of 1871 ◦ End of hands off doctrine and notion of civil death

Prisoners’ Rights: Early Cases Continued Johnson v. Avery (1969) ◦ Jailhouse lawyers could assist inmates Younger v. Gilmore (1971) ◦ Correctional institutions required to establish adequate law library

Prisoners’ Rights After the 1960s Prisoners could challenge legality of their incarceration and now conditions of their imprisonment Easier said than done, though… Frivolous lawsuits ◦ Weeded out and atypical ◦ Vast majority involve serious and blatant violations of constitutional rights Prisoner Litigation Reform Act (1996)

Prisoners’ Rights: 1990s Late 1990s: 35 states and DC under court order or consent decree to limit correctional crowding or improve conditions Totality of Conditions test Wilson v. Seiter (1991) ◦ Inmates must prove officials acted with “deliberate indifference” to basic human needs (for cruel and unusual punishment) ◦ Very difficult to do this

First Amendment: Freedom of Religion Fulwood v. Clemmer – officially recognized Muslim faith Officials can place restrictions on worship and religious observances (“legitimate penological interests at stake” Freedom to observe and practice non- western religions guaranteed Practice faith, have relevant reading materials, wear religious symbols, hair styles, have reasonable dietary provisions

First Amendment: Freedom of Speech Freedom of speech can be restricted as long as restriction related to security Disruptive speech can be prohibited Personal correspondence can be censored only when institutional interests are jeopardized ◦ Security ◦ Order ◦ Rehabilitation

First Amendment: Freedom of Speech Continued Degree of censorship cannot be greater than what is necessary Cannot censor based on: ◦ Unflattering remarks ◦ Unwelcome opinions ◦ Factually incorrect statements Prisoners have right to correspond with press as long as it does not undermine institutional interests (previous slide)

First Amendment: Right to Assemble (1972) Right to organize unions ◦ Worker safety issues ◦ Increasing inmate worker participation in management decisions ◦ Ending contract labor ◦ Increasing compensation (1977) Officials can prohibit inmates from soliciting others to join union Barring union meetings not First Amendment violation

Fourth Amendment: Secure in persons, houses, papers, effects (search and seizure) Prisoners not entitled to same protections in prison 1970 – SC upheld random searches, shakedowns, seizures, but cannot be done to humiliate inmates Later cases – 4 th Amendment is not applicable to prison cell Reasonable suspicion – visitors can be strip searched (broad discretion, no clear definition)

Eighth Amendment: Excessive fines/bail; Cruel & Unusual Pun. Barbaric conditions – cruel and unusual ◦ TX and AR prison systems ◦ Sentencing to facilities constitutes violation Physical abuse – 1968 – use of leather strap is cruel and unusual Deadly force ◦ All reasonable means must be exhausted ◦ Some circumstances can be used to prevent escape ◦ If inmate attempts to inflict severe bodily injury on staff or other inmate, with court permission deadly force may be okay

Eighth Amendment Continued Solitary Confinement ◦ Reserved for certain inmates ◦ Smaller cells, dimmer lighting, modest diet ◦ Around-the-clock surveillance ◦ 23 hrs per day locked up; 1 hr of exercise ◦ Use upheld by USSC in 1971 (protection) ◦ Inmates’ stay should not be excessive ◦ Cell must be sanitary and hygeinic ◦ Offenses punishable with solitary must be documented

Eighth Amendment Continued Medical Treatment and Services ◦ Right protected in variety of sources (Civil Rights Act of 1964, Due Process clauses of 5 th and 14 th Amendments, 8 th Amendment, case law) ◦ Denial of treatment constitutes cruel and unusual punishment ◦ Courts will not define what constitutes adequate and proper medical care

Fourteenth Amendment: Due Process; States Inmate facing disciplinary charges not entitled to same rights as criminal defendant Minimum Due Process requirements ◦ Advance written notice of violation(s) ◦ Adequate time to prepare defense Officials need to present “some evidence” ◦ Not beyond a reasonable doubt ◦ Not clear and convincing; substantial ◦ Not preponderance of the evidence

ALTERNATIVES TO LITIGATION Litigation is expensive and time consuming; should be last resort Grievance boards (internal mechanism) and procedures ◦ Often involve officials and inmates ◦ Determine merits of complaints ◦ Seek resolutions

PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX Rapid increase in prison population attributed to political influence of private prison companies and businesses that provide goods and services to prisons Perpetuates belief that prison is quick fix for social problems Title of 1997 speech (and later book) by Angela Davis

PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX: ANGELA DAVIS Political activist, scholar, author Part of communist party (for awhile), Black Panther Party, civil rights movement Reagan fired her; prohibition against teaching in State of CA On trial (acquitted) for involvement in kidnap and murder of a judge Board of Regents censured for not keeping her on, but later fired her, anyway