Constitutional Rights of Prisoners

The hands off doctrine that existed throughout the United States through the 1960s was the notion that the law did not apply to prisoners. It Convicted offenders, who were incarcerated, were not eligible for the same rights that applied to liberated U.S. citizens. The doctrine mandated that prisoners had forfeited those rights when they were convicted of whatever crime they committed. This doctrine made it impossible for the court system to intervene with prison administration or the daily affairs that took place in prisons throughout the country.

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was passed in 1993 and that was supposed to prevent laws being passed that would impede on a person's free right to practice whatever religion he or she chose to practice. It was fairly broad in its original incarnation, until it was deemed unconstitutional at the state and the local level of authority in...
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