What you think constitutes accidental opening of legal mail

Question

Common Assignment: Written assignment analyzing the impact of the US Supreme Court decisions on the management of prisons

Prepare a written analysis on the impact of the US Supreme Court decisions on the management of prisons (8-10 pages). You are asked to explain the prison management structure and disciplinary process as applied in most prison cases and as directed by the US Supreme Court decision in Sandin v. Conner (1995) and other US Supreme Court cases. Consider such sanctions as loss of job, segregation for a specific amount of time, and loss of commissary privileges.

Assignment Guidelines:

Read through Wolff v. McDonnell (1976) and Sandin v. Conner (1995).
Apply the decisions of these Supreme Court cases to the following punishments:

• Job loss
• Scheduled segregation
• Loss of commissary privileges

For each of these punishments, provide the following based on the decisions of the above to 2 cases:

1. When is this an appropriate sentence?
2. When is this protected by the U.S. Constitution?
3. What are 2 examples that you can take from the Supreme Court decisions that support your arguments?

In 3-5 pages

The plaintiff alleges that his incoming and outgoing legal mail have been withheld or returned to the sender. He has not been permitted to witness the opening of his legal mail, and he has had to use other parties to send and receive legal mail.

You decide to review the law on legal mail. Under what circumstances can mail be considered legal mail? Is opening of a prisoner's legal mail a violation of the prisoner's due process rights?

Assignment Guidelines:

In 3-5 paragraphs, address the following:

1. In your own opinion, should the opening of a prisoner's legal mail be considered a violation of the prisoner's due process rights? Explain.
2. Under what circumstances can mail be considered legal mail?
3. What do you think constitutes accidental opening of legal mail?