Involving Incarcerated People in the Political Process

Authors

• Danny Zemel, The Krudys Law Firm

Abstract

In 1871, the Supreme Court of Virginia infamously stated: “The bill of rights is a declaration of general principles to govern a society of freemen, and not of convicted felons and men civilly dead.” As a result of that civil death, incarcerated people only had rights “such as the law in its benignity accords to them” as “[t]hey are the slaves of the State.” While that is no longer the law, incarcerated people still face a form of civil death through removal from the political process. Obvious manifestations of this civil death include restrictions on voting and the gerrymandering of prison populations. But that is only scratching the surface. Using censorship and cultures of intimidation and reprisal, prisons harshly restrict incarcerated people’s ability to participate in social and political movements. If it were not for the tenacity and bravery of many incarcerated activists, there would be no participation at all. …

Recommended Citation

Danny Zemel, Involving Incarcerated People in the Political Process, 59 U. Rich. L. Rev. 787 (2025).
Available at: https://scholarship.richmond.edu/lawreview/vol59/iss4/4