The American prison system is the largest in the world. Too many people are thrown in prison and forgotten about. Ninety-four percent of prisoners are male and almost 50 percent are African American. These people are considered just statistics. It costs about $ 20,000 a year to house an inmate. They should not be in there that long or they should have to pay for their own housing. I guess that could be one of the consequences of committing a crime.
Inmates have no rights when it comes to things being done on the outside. When in prison you are not considered a person anymore, you are nothing but a number. Once you are a felon, you are marked for life. When released from prison you are considered a convict and convicts can't find a place to live, work or anything they would want to do to try and return to society as a normal person. Even trying to further his or her education, who would hire a convicted felon that, say murdered someone or robbed someone or even raped someone.
Four out of five inmates enter prison with alcohol, drug, and emotional problems. They are not getting the treatment they need being in prison. Granted they are paying for their crime, but that is not helping them stay clean from drugs and alcohol when they get out. There should be some kind of rehabilitation house fro them to stay in for a while. Most of the offenders are under the influence at the time of their crime. Everyone knows that drugs and alcohol alter the way we think.
Since 1960 inmates have had constitutional rights based on the 1st, 4th, 8th,and the 14th amendments.
The First Amendment is that prisoners get freedom of speech, freedom to reading, and freedom in religion.
The Fourth amendment protects people from search and seizure of property by officials. Their personal property cannot be confiscated.
The Eighth amendment protects inmates from large amounts of bail, fines, and unusual punishments.
The Fourteenth amendment enforces that no person be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process.