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Date: April 30, 2024 Tue
Time: 3:41 am
Time: 3:41 am
Results for prisoners rights
2 results foundAuthor: University of Texas School of Law. Human Rights Clinic Title: Deadly Heat in Texas Prisons Summary: The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is currently violating the human and constitutional rights of inmates in Texas by exposing them to dangerously high temperatures and extreme heat conditions. Extreme heat in TDCJ-run correctional facilities has long caused heat-related injuries and deaths of inmates during the hot Texas summers. Since 2007, at least fourteen inmates incarcerated in various TDCJ facilities across the state of Texas have died from extreme heat exposure while imprisoned. Many of these inmates had preexisting health conditions or were taking medications that rendered them heat-sensitive, yet properly cooled living areas were not provided to them by the TDCJ. These fourteen victims, along with other TDCJ prisoners and even TDCJ personnel, were and continue to be exposed to dangerously high heat levels on a regular basis. This practice violates individuals' human rights, particularly the rights to health, life, physical integrity, and dignity. In spite of repeated, serious, and egregious incidents, the TDCJ has yet to implement measures that effectively mitigate heat-related injury in inmate housing. While the TDCJ has installed fans and allowed for ventilation in inmate living areas, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has proven these measures to be ineffective in preventing heat-related injuries in very hot and humid conditions, such as those present in TDCJ facilities. Despite these findings, TDCJ facilities largely do not provide air conditioning to the living areas of the general inmate population, many of whom are serving time for non-violent offenses. At the same time, the TDCJ has spent money on air conditioning for its warden offices and for its armories. Additionally, the TDCJ has not promulgated any maximum temperature policies for inmate housing, even though the Texas Commission on Jail Standards and numerous other state departments of corrections across the country have done so. As a result, TDCJ inmates continue to suffer through Texas summers, and are forced to risk heatstroke and other heat-related injuries while incarcerated with the TDCJ. This Report, prepared by the Human Rights Clinic of the University of Texas School of Law, concludes that current conditions in TDCJ facilities constitute a violation of Texas's duty to guarantee the rights to health, life, physical integrity, and dignity of detainees, as well as its duty to prevent inhuman or degrading treatment of its inmates. These duties have been affirmed by countless human rights bodies and instruments such as the United Nations Human Rights Committee, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the American Declaration on the Rights and Duties of Man, to mention just a few. Many international human rights decisions have found that extreme heat similar to situations in Texas contributes to a finding of inhuman or degrading prison conditions. The TDCJ's continued incarceration of inmates in extreme heat conditions violates its duties to inmates, and constitutes inhumane treatment of such prisoners in violation of international human rights standards. The Human Rights Clinic concludes that current extreme heat conditions in TDCJ facilities also violate inmates' constitutional right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has recognized time and again that extreme heat in prisons can constitute a violation of inmates' Eighth Amendment rights. In a 2012 case, a 63 year old Texas prisoner presented with a preexisting blood pressure condition, and was taking medication that would affect his body's ability to regulate temperature. The court decided that a reasonable jury could conclude that a failure to provide air conditioning, among other things, to an individual with these conditions was a violation of the prisoner's constitutional rights. Most recently, the Middle District of Louisiana issued a decision in 2013 condemning the extreme heat conditions in a Louisiana prison facility similar to those conditions present in TDCJ facilities as a violation of the Constitution. There is therefore clear and recent precedent for denouncing the hot conditions in TDCJ facilities as violating the guarantees and rights of inmates under the Eighth Amendment. Details: Austin, TX: University of Texas School of Law, Human Rights Clinic, 2014. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 17, 2014 at: http://www.utexas.edu/law/clinics/humanrights/docs/HRC_EH_Report_4-7-14_FINAL.pdf Year: 2014 Country: United States URL: http://www.utexas.edu/law/clinics/humanrights/docs/HRC_EH_Report_4-7-14_FINAL.pdf Shelf Number: 132378 Keywords: Health CareHuman Rights ViolationsHumane TreatmentInmatesPrison ConditionsPrisoner HealthPrisoners (Texas)Prisoners Rights |
Author: American Civil Liberties Union Title: VWI: Voting While Incarcerated: A Tool Kit for Advocates Seeking to Register, and Facilitate Voting by, Eligible People in Jail Summary: At midyear 2004, there were close to 714,000 people detained in our nation's jails. Most were being held under pretrial detention or serving time for misdemeanors or for non-disfranchising felonies, and the majority were eligible to register and vote. Most states disfranchise people with felony convictions for at least some period of time - while they are serving their sentence in prison (in all states except Maine and Vermont), and often while they are on probation or parole as well. Several states indefinitely disfranchise people with felony convictions, but Alabama and Mississippi permit some felons to vote. (See "The Law in Your State," page 34.) However, people detained in jail who are awaiting trial or are serving time for a misdemeanor or a non-disfranchising felony have the right to vote in every state. This is at least theoretically true. And this is where advocacy efforts come in. According to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, more than half the people in jail in 2004 were racial or ethnic minorities. African Americans were five times more likely than whites and almost three times more likely than Latinos to be in jail. The United States has a long history of deliberately denying people of color the right to participate in the democratic process by voting. Even after the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in 1870 guaranteeing all (male) citizens the right to vote regardless of race or nationality, many states continued to create obstacles such as literacy tests and poll taxes to deter African Americans and other people of color from voting. Although the Voting Rights Act of 1965 made these practices illegal, most states employ felony disfranchisement laws that effectively silence large numbers of voters of color, especially African-American men, according to The Sentencing Project. These figures are estimates as of August 2005: But there is a hidden population of over 700,000 people in our jails who are disproportionately poor and of color who are eligible to vote now. Pretrial detainees in jail are usually there only because they cannot afford bail. People with financial resources are able to post bail and are therefore able to vote freely outside the jailhouse walls that contain the poor. Another reason to focus on jail systems is that while state elected officials determine who is and isn't eligible to vote in each state, with the authority to enact or repeal felony disfranchisement laws, local officials (often county executives or mayors and their appointed administrators) control jail systems. Local elected officials have influence over local election boards. Where state officials refuse to take action, local corrections and elections officials may be interested in ensuring that all eligible residents in their jurisdiction, including people in jail, are registered and provided the opportunity to cast a ballot. The San Francisco Department of Elections, for example, is taking steps to inform people in jail (and those who have completed their sentences) that they are eligible to vote under California law. The director has implemented the plan as a way to increase voter registration while honoring inmates' right to vote. The department's informational campaign includes a useful Web page on "Inmate Voting": see http://www.sfgov.org/site/election_ index.asp?id=33704. Local elected officials may also control other corrections agencies, including probation offices. Many of the recommendations in this tool kit with respect to the institutionalization of jail-based voter education and registration also apply to probation and other corrections agencies. HOW THIS TOOL KIT CAN HELP This tool kit outlines the steps you can take to implement a two-part process inside your local jails to (1) register voters, and (2) ensure that eligible people can vote from jail. The act of registration is important in and of itself, but there must be follow-up to ensure that people also have the opportunity to exercise the right to vote. There are many ways to approach this work, and the method you choose should be based on the unique set of circumstances that prevail in your community. We have included models with step-by-step instructions and sample materials you can use to create educational flyers and other relevant items. To give these models some context, we offer profiles of jail-based voter registration and get-out-the- vote efforts in seven localities across the country. Details: New York: ACLU and Right to Vote, 2005. 72p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 19, 2015 at: https://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/votingrights/votingwhileincarc_20051123.pdf Year: 2005 Country: United States URL: https://www.aclu.org/files/pdfs/votingrights/votingwhileincarc_20051123.pdf Shelf Number: 136998 Keywords: Jail InmatesPrisoners RightsVoter Registration |