Ruffin v. Virginia and slaves of the state: A nonexistent baseline of prisoners' rights jurisprudence

The present-day view of prisoners' rights jurisprudence during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries is that prisoners were considered no more than “slaves of the state.” Yet, there are cases reported from this period indicating that courts would entertain claims of abuse of prisoners. The case cited for this language does not itself support the view that prisoners were regarded as no more than slaves of the state. This article discusses the impact upon current prisoners' rights jurisprudence of retaining this incomplete historical view of the legal status of prisoners. It calls for academic texts to attend to historical issues more accurately.