ABSTRACT
The abstract case for recognizing prisoners’ rights is so simple as to be almost trite. Prisoners are human beings. Civilized legal systems recognize that all human beings have certain basic rights. Therefore prisoners have rights too, although imprisonment may lead to them being denied at least some of these rights. Prisoners are removed from society and legally deprived of their freedom of movement. In practice they are also subject to numerous further constraints that greatly reduce their rights and liberties (Richardson 1993).
