Although prisoners do not have full constitutional rights, they are protected by the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. Prisoners also have rights to speech and religion, to the extent these rights do not interfere with their status as inmates.

While prisoners have no expectation of privacy in their cells, they retain a “limited expectation of privacy” in their bodies. In analyzing body cavity searches, strip searches, or any invasions of bodily privacy, a court will balance the need for the search against the invasion of privacy the search involves.

Private prisons in the United States incarcerated 115,428 people in 2019, representing 8% of the total state and federal prison population. Since 2000, the number of people housed in private prisons has increased 32% compared to an overall rise in the prison population of 3%.

But that’s just in maximum and medium security prisons. Usually, lower level prisons (dormitory housing) have to use the bathroom in communal bathrooms so, yes, you would be taking a shit in front of everybody if you go to a minimum security prison.

“All inmates … have continuous access to toilet paper, at no cost to them,” Wilder said. Wilder said all inmates are provided two toilet paper rolls each week, and can get more by exchanging the empty rolls after they are used.

The inmates find substitutes when their supply to toilet paper runs out, Richardson said. They dampen notebook paper and newspapers. They rip bedsheets and socks, and even wash and reuse them.

Prisoners who are cool with the person who is having a birthday will usually buy him canteen items or make him a prison meal.

Can I open a bank account while I’m in prison? Technically, there is no reason that you cannot open an account while you are serving a prison sentence. Unless there is a specific program operating in your own prison, it can be difficult to open a bank account during your sentence.