Fourteenth Amendment Commons^™

Recent Development, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

Prisons in the United States house approximately 220,000 felons,'95 percent of whom will eventually return to society Most state legislatures have delegated to prison administrative bodies the power both to establish regulations prescribing proper prison conduct and to impose sanctions for their violation. Prison administrators thus have been granted wide latitude in establishing the procedures by which prisoners are determined to be guilty of disciplinary infractions and punished. Frequently, prisoners who allegedly have violated prison standards are not afforded notice of their offenses, are judged by their accusers, and are awarded disproportionately severe punishment, such as solitary confinement or loss …