Courts Involvement in Protecting Prisoner's Rights

Courts Involvement in Protecting Prisoner's Rights

Introduction

Having its origination from the Latin word “Crimen”, crime refers the any type of guilt, charge or allegation. Most commonly many definitions define it as an unexpected behavior that is against prevailing norms, precisely cultural and societal standards suggesting how human's behavior should be (Carrabine, 2009). This methodology also considers the complex realities attached to the concept and idea of crime. It is undoubtedly argued that changes in political, psychological, social, and economic factors have a strong influence on the definition of crimes and the penal responses and punishments offered by the State.

Punishments play an important role in criminal law, as they usually create a rough idea about the seriousness of the crime for the general public for example, a crime is committed and the State implements a serious punishment then that crime will automatically will be perceived by the general public as a serious crime. Due to the seriousness of the punishments involved in criminal law, the State has also given certain rights to the criminals, so that they could have a chance to proof their case and defend themselves from severe punishments. This system balances the rights of the wrong doer and the people affected by the crime.

Discussion

There are various rights offered to a prisoner out of which one is right to mail. There are two different approaches towards this right. One approach is the traditional approach which limits the involvement of the courts in the management of the prison system. It has been seen in many cases that the involvement of the courts in the mail system also led to interference in the constitutional rights. It was also argued that restricting the prisoner's mail right was against the main laws of freedom of speech and action but this view was ignored for example in the case of Dayton v. McGranery where a prisoner's allegation of being unable to send a letter to a young woman, was dismissed by the court on the basis that there was no valid cause of action.

On the other hand is the new approach that gave right to the prison officials to read and check the mails of the prisoner. This right was granted to the officials for two major reasons, first one being that it gave an idea that what was being smuggle in and out of the institution and ...