ABSTRACT
The development of prisoners’ rights is a core issue in the use of incarceration as a sanction for criminal offenders. Like other areas of the justice system, the incarceration of offenders is a practice surrounded by controversy. Indeed, the concept of incarceration-especially as practiced in the United States-is itself controversial (Webster & Doob, 2008). Critics often note that, among all the nations in Western civilization, the United States has the highest rate of imprisonment and imposes the longest prison terms on offenders (Austin & Irwin, 2001; Doleschal, 1971). Although the recent economic struggles have prompted many states to rely less on incarceration as a criminal punishment, it is unclear whether these changes will have long-lasting impacts (Brown, 2013). Many have questioned the impact of incarceration on reducing crime and helping criminals and described the negative effects of imprisonment (Crutchfield, 2004; DeFina & Hannon, 2013). Still, others defend the use of incarceration. Wright (1994, 1997) provided a strong argument for prisons as both a deterrent and an incapacitative sanction, and Zedlewski (1997) noted that there is a value to prisons meeting society’s desire to inflict some vengeance on criminal offenders.
