Conditions of Confinement in Florida Correction System which violates the Eighth Amendment

Introduction

Eighth Amendment to the constitution of United States prevents the federal government from imposing cruel or unusual punishment on inmates. What exactly is a usual or cruel punishment? Answer is quite complex as there is a wide spectrum of opinion about what constitutes usual or cruel punishment. The answer to this question is also changed over time as the society's sense of decency evolved.

Prison system in the state of Florida is also subject to this amendment which prevents Florida's government from punishing people in strange and unusual way. But according to legal experts, there are some on-going practices and conditions of confinement in the state of florida which are in direct violation of the eighth amendment. Some of them are discussed below.

Discussion

Overcrowding

The zero-tolerance policies for drug offenses have caused non-violent criminals to serve longer prison sentences. The tightened budget across the United States has also made diversion programs to suffer. These two factors according to the government of Florida are contributing in the overcrowding problem of the prison system in Florida.

Justice Kennedy of the Supreme Court has ruled against the government of Florida and wrote that in some prisons of Florida, conditions are so bad that they are causing “needless death and suffering”. He upheld a ruling of lower court that Florida's prison system are found to be overcrowded which are in direction violation of the rights of inmates defined in the eighth amendment which saves them from unusual and cruel punishment. This overcrowding is also causing worsening health care and sanitizing conditions. Health care in the prisons of Florida causes at least one preventable death a week (Burnett et al., 2004).

Quality of Food

Nutraloaf is meatloaf -like substance which is served to the inmates of Florida prisons. It's a form of punishment to inmates who violates the rules and regulations of the prison. Nutraloaf is considered a direct violation of eighth amendment as it's prepared from leftover grains, meats, vegetables and fruits besides its bad-tasting and can make a prison abhor. In some incidents, prisoners puked right after eating it.

The prisoners of the state of Florida are also served with high-soy food which made one of the inmates Eric Harris to file a suit against Lake Correctional Institution. Meaty macaroni, meat loaf and BBQ with high soy were apparently causing him cramping and bloating. He believed that the high soy food 'fake' food served in prison system of Florida is akin to unusual and cruel punishment as it's causing some serious health problems to the inmates. He also believed that his manhood may also be threatened by this high-soy fake food.

Some studies on high soy-diet have legitimized his concerns as they have come up with the evidence against the effects of high-soy diet on a person's endocrine and reproductive system which causes gastrointestinal problems. The gastrointestinal problems are evident in the prisons of Florida. According to a report published in Orlando Sentinel, the inmates of Florida's prison ingest ...