Better regulated prisons and jails for the protection of prisoners

Those incarcerated in state prisons are often mistreated by the system and are constantly unsafe yet unable to escape. The mistreatment ranges from unfair actions taken by guards to simply their standard of living. Yes they are prisoners, they should not be living like millionaires, but they certainly must be allowed basic human rights. Examples of these rights include, but are not limited to, adequate food, easy visitation with family, heat and air conditioning, easy access to healthcare, the ability to voice concerns and be listened to, and the protection from sexual assault or verbal/physical abuse by guards.

This ill treatment is often neglected because prisoners have absolutely no power and therefore are very easy targets. According to the Florida Times Union, many former employees of Florida prisons report abuse, bullying and racist behavior by other staff. One employee reports walking into a room and seeing a handcuffed prisoner being beaten, surrounded by a group of officers. After reporting this incident, she was suspended and then later fired, and the incident was covered up. Something that recently happened last winter in a Brooklyn jail was the disturbing pleading of prisoners who had been left without heat, hot water, and lights in freezing conditions for DAYS, according to the New York Times.

I'm directing this petition toward the Federal Bureau of Prisons because they are in charge of "custody, control, and care of individuals incarcerated in the federal prison system of the United States," and I don't believe that they are doing enough to protect inmates.

The current treatment of inmates is unacceptable and unconstitutional. Prisoners must have laws that are strictly enforced to protect their human rights, no matter what they have done to be there.