What are prisoner rights & privileges in jail?

• in Laws

When a crime is committed, or alleged to have been committed, there are certain inevitabilities that one can all but be assured will occur if the offense warrants it,
(1.) they will be arrested and
(2.) they will end up in jail or a detention center until they are presented to a judge or magistrate for a formal recitation of the charges against them—in this initial proceeding, the Court sets bail as well; bail, as initially set, may not be “reasonable” (at all) at this point but the Courts typically allow for motions to be filed after the first bail hearing wherein a challenge to that amount may subsequently prove meritorious.

However, bail will not normally be reduced unless the inmate can identify certain material facts and circumstances (germane to the case against them) that might legitimately warrant the reduction; without that condition precedent, they are all but guaranteed to lose any bail motion(s) presented to the Court. This does not mean that they are in a hopeless situation if they are held over in the County jail or detention center. If the Court allowed for bail, there are bails bondsmen that will assist at this juncture–there are some who will even take just “10%” or “1%” of what the total bond is (i.e., 10%/$10,000=$1,000 or 1%/$1,000=$10) but that would depend on if the Court allowed for a “10%” bond though.

What rights & privileges are Stripped Away as a Prisoner?

If they are to be held over in the County Jail until their legal matters are resolved, they are not yet a “prisoner” but they are a “detainee” and they, therefore, will lose full access to their Constitutional rights—e.g., what rights are stripped away as a prisoner or infringed excessively are or can be:
1- the “right to assembly” under the first amendment,
2- the Fourth amendment may be infringed egregiously,
3- the second amendment is DEFINITELY nonexistent; and, to be honest, ANY right can be taken away in prison in an instant so long as there is a “legitimate penological interest” for it. That has been the case since Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520 (1979)(jails) and Turner v. Safely, 482 U.S. 78 (1987)(prisons).

In fact, had the dissent in Hudson v. McMillian prevailed, gratuitously beating a prisoner for “fun” would not even serve to violate the prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Eighth Amendment, 503 U.S. 1, 4 (1992); and, without meaningful demarcation, this “stripping” of constitutional rights extends to both the full range of prisoner rights and privileges as well as to the inmate’s rights while in county jail. You can contact bail bonds services as well.

The above notwithstanding, there are inmate rights in county jail that the detainee possesses that are greater than those rights and privileges of prisoners who have been convicted of a crime–the most identifiable one is the Eighth Amendment right to bail. While a prisoner may still access this right if they win an appeal (subject to the appellate court’s discretion) a detainee has the right, without any substantive limitations, unless the crime that they have accused of warrants the removal of the right (due to public safety concerns)—another intriguing demarcation between the rights in prison versus the rights in the County jail can be found in the California prisoner voting rights of felons who are currently serving time of a year or less—this right does not fall within the prisoner rights and privileges of a California inmate serving more than a year of state time; thus, the California prisoner voting rights standard serves as the most glaring demarcation.

How Are These Rights Made and Enacted?

The inmate rights in the county jail are enacted and defined by the States, Board of Chosen Freeholders, Municipalities and Courts; then, normally memorialized in a concise “handbook” by the Warden, Sheriff or Administrator of the jail or correctional facility and promptly given to the detainee or prisoner during the intake process—it is up to the “detainee” or “prisoner” to know their inmate rights in the county jail or their prisoner rights and privileges while in prison not the correctional facility staff’s: The “due process” rights of the detainee and prisoner are satisfied simply by the delivery of the handbook to them by correctional staff and not the comprehension of it—that part is on the inmate (illiterate or not).

Does a State Inmate Retrieve Their County Rights if they Go Back to the County Jail?

When a prisoner wins an appeal or is brought up on additional charges for criminal conduct that they are alleged to have done while in state prison, they will often be remanded to the county jail for their court dates. The state inmate in county jail rights is the same ones that prevailed while in state prison—unless they have won an appeal of their conviction(s) and the court grants them bail. Conversely, because the presumption of innocence is no longer present for the prisoner, the county jail is often tasked with separating the state inmate from the detainee—the latter of which is still presumed innocent. This is done for a myriad of reasons, chief of which is a liability on the correctional facility receiving the state prisoner; accordingly, state inmate in county jail rights will not be anything greater than what was already known to the inmate when they were either in the county jail or in prison.

Will an inmate still be given adequate medical care while detained or imprisoned?