Amendment 8

1. Source: A Recent Supreme Court Case on the Eight Amendment and Qualified Immunity Both Exposes and Hides the Cruelty of Prisom. April 24, 2002.
 http://writ.news.findlaw.com/colb/20020424.html

2. Constituional Connection: Amendment 8 Cruel and Unusual Punishment
 "Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

3. Explanation of Connection:
       The eighth amendment protects criminals who are actually in jail. The bail put on a criminal can not be to high. For example a robbery bail can not be a million dollars. The criminal can not be fined extra or punished severely. Often times in jail the convicts are treated cruelly because they are not considered citizens anymore. They are not questioned about these motives because it is considered jail life. The case Hope v. Pelzer was about a criminal being treated poorly.

       This article Clearly demonstrates the eighth amendment because it demonstrates it being broken by the prison guards in a jail in Alabama. Mr. Hope misbehaved by the railroad and as punishment he was chained to a metal post in the hot Alabama heat for seven hours with no bathroom breaks. He was only given water once or twice and at one point he was teased with water, and he was forced to watch the guard pour the water out. He was being denied the eighth amendment because he was given an unusual punishment that could have killed him.

        I feel as though the Guards should be punished for severely punishing this criminal. Being chained in the sun with no water break was a punishment created to hurt this prisoner. The prisoner is just punished while the guards just brush it off  jail life. I am positive he isn't the only prisoner to be punished, but the only one to speak up. These criminals are still human beings and should not be tortured for the mistakes they made: there is a difference between cruelty and discipline.