American Prison System

The conditions of confinement within the United States jails and prisons have encountered much condemnation and backlash over the years. Prior to the 1960’s, many held a common belief that those who chose to violate the law would simultaneously and inevitably relinquish their constitutional rights, thus becoming slaves-of-the-state. In an absence of recognizing prisoners as deserving members of society, harsh corporal punishments and deplorable living conditions became the American correctional facility norm. The American prisons systems’ living conditions were held to constitute as cruel and unusual punishment, in violation of the prisoners’ Eighth Amendment right. The aim of this research paper is to compile a comprehensive review that will …show more content…
The amount of violence, homosexual rapes, and unwholesome conditions was so common in prisons that courts believed that a “defense based on the intolerable conditions would be susceptible to manipulation by escapees based on the amount of duress being produced” (“Prison Escape . . .,” 1979). The escalation in prisoners’ victimization rates raised legitimate security concerns for inmates and staff. Consequently, the courts had to …show more content…
For instance, unsanitary conditions, accompanied by poor personal hygiene, and no health care hindered inmates, staff, and administrator’s health. However, due to the close proximity of multiple inmates confined to single cells, some “75 square feet”, the spread of sicknesses, dieses, and infections became inevitable (“Crowded Prisons”, 1979). A simple common cold could be lethal due to the deficiency of medical resources and personnel to properly care for, and treat minor illnesses. As Goldsmith, (1974) recalls describing the physical conditions of the medical department at Tucker, Murton as “noted algae growing on the floor, condemned electrical wiring, poor sanitation, and unreliable flood protection that often resulted in fecal matter floating around and through the surgical and ward areas” (1974). Other studies concluded that the facility itself also failed to provide “proper electrical wiring, that [resulted] in insufficient illumination, inadequate malfunctioning toilets and sewage systems, and heating and venting inadequacies” that bred viruses and infections (Robbins & Buser, 1977). The need for proper health care and hygiene was in high demand in American prisons as the quality of health amongst inmates and staff began to

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