Prisoners' Rights

This volume brings together a selection of the most important published research articles from the ongoing debate about the moral rights of prisoners. The articles consider the moral underpinnings of the debate and include framework discussions for a theory of prisoners' rights as well as several international documents which detail the rights of prisoners, including women prisoners. Finally, detailed analysis of the moral bases for particular rights relating to prison conditions covers areas such as: health, solitary confinement, recreation, work, religious observance, library access, the use of prisoners in research and the disenfranchisement of prisoners.

Contents: Introduction. Part I Background: The prisoners' rights movement and its impacts, James B. Jacobs; The short life and painful death of prisoners' rights, J.M. Shone; Criminal offenders and right forfeiture, Richard L. Lippke; Privatization and the elusive employee-contractor distinction, Alexander Volokh. Part II Foundations: Prisoners' rights, Hugo Adam Bedau; The case for prisoners' rights, Genevra Richardson; Toward a theory of prisoners' rights, Richard L. Lippke. Part III Enumerated Prisoners' Rights: Social justice and correctional health services, Kenneth Kipnis; Solitary confinement and supermax prisons: a human rights and ethical analysis, Sharon Shalev; The ethical framework for research involving prisoners; Liberal and Republican arguments against the disenfranchisement of felons, Jeffrey Reiman; Prisoner access to recreation, entertainment and diversion, Richard L. Lippke; The right of inmates to work, Rex Martin; In the belly of the whale: religious practice in prison, Harvard Law Review; Reachin' behind bars: library outreach to prisoners, 1798-2000, Larry E. Sullivan and Brenda Vogel; Prisoners' right to read: an interpretation of the Library Bill of Rights, American Library Association/Office for Intellectual Freedom. Part IV Major International Documents: The United Nations and the promotion of prison standards, Adam C. Bouloukos and Burkhard Dammann; UN standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners (1955); UN body of principles for the protection of all persons under any form of detention or imprisonment (1988); UN basic principles for the treatment of prisoners (1990); UN rules for the treatment of women prisoners and non-custodial measures for women offenders (the Bangkok Rules) (2010). Name index.