Criminology

The rights of prisoners have for a long time been ignored arguing that the inmates forfeit their liberty as a result of committing the crimes that eventually land them behind the bars. Therefore, in the past, prisoners were only accorded the human rights provided by the law in its own humanity. As a result of the great deprivation of rights to prisoners, there was need for constitutional amendments in order to allow the prisoners just like other people to enjoy all the human rights provided in the constitution. The main aim of correctional facilities is not to deprive off the rights of the prisoners but to deter them from committing such offences in the future and there was therefore need to ensure that in the eyes of the law, the prisoners were accorded similar human rights.

Constitutional amendments
The first amendment is one of the most significant amendments, which were carried out to ensure that the prisoners just like other human beings enjoy all the human rights provided in the constitution. This amendment is aimed at protecting the rights to the freedom, religion as well as to guarantee expression of their freedom without any interference from the government. In this case, the prisoners just like other individuals are free to worship and the government should not come in and dictate on them the religion they should follow for whatever reason. The expression freedom comprises of the rights to the speech, assembly and press freedom and also petitioning the government for grievances redress. This amendment thus gave the implication that even if an individual is in prison, then he or she should not be denied the right to express his or her views. It is the duty of the Supreme Court to interpret the protection extent that is accorded by these rights to the prisoners as well as other individuals.

The first amendment has greatly improved the relationship of the prisoners and their correctional facilities. Unlike in the past before the constitutional amendment was done, the prisoners are now free to worship but this has to be done within the correctional facilities as they are still deprived off the movement freedom. The expression freedom also meant a lot to the inmates since they are now in a position of airing their views without any fear of intimidation and victimization by the administration of these facilities. This is one major aspect that has significantly improved the relationship between the inmates and the correctional institutions as it has created several dialogue channels through which the inmates can express their opinions and thus contribute in efforts of assisting them to be better citizens in the future.

The fourth amendment was mainly aimed at ensuring that everyone in the country is secure irrespective of whether an individual is behind bars or free. The inmates in all correctional facilities in the country are secure from unreasonable seizures and searches. Previously before this particular amendment, the prisoners in virtually all the correctional facilities were very vulnerable to unreasonable seizures and searches, which in several occasions would be carried out on the prisoners in a dehumanizing manner. Despite the fact that even after this amendment, the prisoners are not under any circumstances allowed to have weapons, drugs or other illegal substances while in prison, searching for such items and substances have to be done in accordance with the fourth amendment. However, before carrying out any seizures or searches on the prisoners, the correctional facilitys administration has to ensure that it is reasonable to carryout such an activity. The correctional facilitys administration has also to follow all the procedures stipulated in the fourth amendment. This ensures that the rights of all the inmates are well secured and the prisoners are aware that such seizures and searches can only be carried out in a lawful manner.

The forth amendment has also improved the relations between the prisoners and the correctional institutions in the country. The prisoners are more aware of their rights and they can object to seizures and searches that are not done within the law. The fourth amendment does not however protect them when reasonable seizures and searches are carried out and they are found with items and substances they are not allowed to possess while in prison because of one reason or the other.  

According to the fourteenth amendment, all the parole revocations have to be duly accompanied by all the normal processes applicable in notice and hearing requirements. This amendment made it clear that the liberty of a parole is a right and not a privilege for anyone including the prisoners. This gave the implication that liberty for everyone is paramount and must therefore be guaranteed to each and every citizen regardless of whether they are in prison or free in the streets. In this amendment, the interest of the state is that having convicted an individual at least once, before imprisoning him and later releasing him for purposes of rehabilitation. At some considerable risk, the state should be in a position of returning the person to prison without the need of new adversary burdens of trials. The fourteenth amendment thus ensured that the prisoners demonstrated good conduct while in prison so that they could be released for purposes of rehabilitation thus improving the relations between the prisoners and the correctional institution.

Conclusion
The main objective of taking criminals is to ensure that they are corrected and deterred from committing similar crimes in future. This is an objective that can be achieved much better by including the first, fourth and the fourteenth constitutional amendments, which address the rights of prisoners. The previous perception of the law that the inmates forfeits most of their rights once they commit crime is wrong and cannot be useful in making the inmates better citizens once they are through with their sentences.