A Letter to a Correctional Staff
Incarcerated
or not, offenders are human beings who were born free and should be treated
with dignity. It is important to know and understand that they are human, and
someday, some of them will be released back into the community. Therefore,
human rights and privileges provided to them, either by our constitution, or by
the Universal Declaration of Human Right (UDHR), should not be retained or
withheld. According to the UDHR, adopted by the United Nations in (1948), “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and
rights….” (Article 1). Even those who are incarcerated and those who
have been accused of felony offences should be treated kindly and with dignity.
It is very important that correctional staff area understand this. 
People
who are incarcerated have little or no ability to make their own decision, do
whatever they wish to do, or live their lives as they pleased. The have
physical and social limitation, they are unable to function as a capable human
beings, and sometimes people, including correctional staff, look down on them. Sometimes
human services professionals don’t have empathy and open mindedness for their
clients like they supposed to; and sometimes, correctional staff treat
incarcerated offenders like they are less of human.
When
I first became a correctional officer, I judged and saw all inmates the same
way. I believed they were all bad people, “gang bangers,” criminals, and guilty.
However, after couple of years of experience in my line of work, I became a
case manager, and I had the opportunity to work closely with them and on a
personal level, my opinion and stereotype changed. I started to understand
their story and began to have empathy. I realized that all incarcerated people
are not bad people, not all of them are guilty of their offense, and above all,
they are still human with emotions and feelings.
Article
5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Right (1948) states that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment or punishment” (Article 5). For human services workers
to be professional in their line of work, they must understand and respect
their client’s universal and constitutional human rights. Correctional staff
must not ignore or forget that incarcerated offenders also have the right to be
protected from cruel and degrading punishment or torture. To be professional,
they must be fair and consistence in their in interactions with inmates.
Finally,
leaders and policy makers in the department of corrections can also help make
UDHR relevant to human services professionals by ensuring that their policies
and procedures are in accordance with the UDHR. For instance, prison policy and
procedures that does not protect inmates from cruel and unusual punishment
should be changed or amended. Correctional staff should be trained, well
informed, and be aware of the rights and privileges that are provided to
inmates by the Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Right.
United Nations. (2014). Universal Declaration of
Human Rights. Retrieved from http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
