hould prison inmates be allowed to sue prison officials? Why or why not?
Question
When stepping out of a shower, inmate Smith slips on a bar of soap. He falls, injuring his back. The injury occurs in the presence of officer Jones. Inmate Smith blames Officer Jones for his injury. If inmates smith decides to file a lawsuit, he has the best chance of success under which of the three types of inmate lawsuits, Habeas corpus, torts, or section 1983. Please discuss at length the type of lawsuit you think would be successful and support your choice with proper reasoning that reflects the material you learned in the book. Should the government be able to limit by statute the ability of a prison inmate to the lawsuits as in the prison litigation reform act (PLRA)? Should prison inmates be allowed to sue prison officials? Why or why not? Take a position either way and adequately defend it. Point various aspects of the assigned readings to support your response.
The lawsuit should be under Torts. The reason for this choice is because the prison officer Jones negligently failed to exercise the duty of care for the inmates. He was present during the fall and should have noticed the bar soap. He should have acted with care and removed the bar soap to ensure no inmates fell or slipped and injured themselves.
Inmate Smith should file an injury claim against officer Jones. The suit should be for the negligence of officer Jones. The suit should be through the Federal tort claim procedures. Despite the qualified immunity protecting the federal prison authorities from lawsuits, this immunity may be challenged during the claims filed for injuries resulting from negligence.
Inmates must file a Standard Form 95; this form serves to notify the federal government of your intention to claim damages for injuries sustained while in detention. In case the Department of Justice rejects your claim, you have six months from the date of rejection to hire an attorney to file a lawsuit on your behalf.
The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) was enacted in 1996 to curtail the rise in inmates’ lawsuits against the prison officers in respective prisons they were incarcerated. The act was enacted to limit the success of these lawsuits by Inmates.PLRA stipulates that the inmates can only file a lawsuit after all the options have been exhausted.
PLRA set up administrative remedies that every prison or correctional facility needed to enact to solve the complaints made against the Prison Officers. The administration of these correctional facilities may make this remedy to be very tedious to limit the success of these claims. The inmates first have to try to solve their complaints through the facilities management. Upon failure of the facility to assist the prisoners, the prisoners then may be allowed to file a lawsuit.
The inmates should not be completely barred from making claims against the correctional officers. The reason for my view is that some correction facilities management enacts tedious processes that must be followed before the inmate is compensated for their injuries. The government should come up with better procedures that are standard and must be followed by every correctional facility.
Inmates should be allowed to sue the prison officers, but they must be regulated from misusing this privilege. The inmates have a right to sue for injuries that were a result of negligence by the prison officers. The case of Smith vs. Jones, for instance, cannot be ruled against the inmate because the prison officer was aware that the inmate would slip on the bar soap, but still, he didn’t remove it from the bathroom floor. It’s like he ignored the bar soap leading to the inmate getting a severe injury in the back. Prisoners too have their rights, which should be protected just like the other citizens. Denying the inmates the chance to raise their claims will make the inmates suffer in silence due to acts of negligence by the prison officers who have the duty of care.