Can a person in prison consent?

[Razgovory]

Can a prisoner consent to anything?  Obviously inspired by the organ transplant thing.  I thought the broader question of consent is interesting.  If they can't consent that sort of screws up things like pleas while awaiting trial in jail.

[chipwich]

Yes but as part of their punishment and inferior station they should be denied access to sex.

[Barrister]

Forgive me, but this is a far deeper question than you might realize.

Can someone who is in prison plead guilty?

[Josephus]

Forgive me, but this is a far deeper question than you might realize.

Can someone who is in prison plead guilty?

Maybe we should ask a lawyer?

[viper37]

Can a prisoner consent to anything?

To anything?  No.
To some things?  Yes.

A prisoner could willingly give an organ.  But offering a reward is wrong, imho.

If he was not a prisoner and he was offered 30 000$ of his kidney, would that be a legal transaction?  I don't think so.  It's the same principle here.

[Admiral Yi]

A while back I read an article about the pay for blood/plasma industry.  IIRC the US supplies a staggering amount of the world's plasma or blood, can't remember if it's both or just plasma.  That's because the US is one of the few countries in the world that allows payment to donors.

[Syt]

Depending on where you go you get money for donations here. I used to get EUR 20 when donating blood at the hospital back home, and I think the plasma banks here pay EUR 30. Officially they can't pay you for donating, so it's officially a reimbursement for time spent.

EDIT: just checked, for every fifth plasma donation you get EUR 45 extra now.

[Sheilbh]

Forgive me, but this is a far deeper question than you might realize.

I'd add I'm not sure that there's a single consent. Consent in all cases might have similar characteristics but the weight and context is really important. Consent for a medical procedure or participating in medical research, for example, is clearly different than consent to your next door neighbour borrowing a cup of sugar even if both ultimately rely on someone consenting.

[Razgovory]

Forgive me, but this is a far deeper question than you might realize.

Can someone who is in prison plead guilty?

That was my point!

[crazy canuck]

Forgive me, but this is a far deeper question than you might realize.

I'd add I'm not sure that there's a single consent. Consent in all cases might have similar characteristics but the weight and context is really important. Consent for a medical procedure or participating in medical research, for example, is clearly different than consent to your next door neighbour borrowing a cup of sugar even if both ultimately rely on someone consenting.

Yeah, the issue of consent is complex and the analysis is highly context dependent.  Just because they can give their lawyer instructions to take certain positions in their criminal proceedings, does not mean they can give meaningful consent in other contexts, for other things.

For example, Yi's simplistic analysis would mean that an inmate can consent to be the Warden's sexual toy in return for a reduced sentence.

[Valmy]

A while back I read an article about the pay for blood/plasma industry.  IIRC the US supplies a staggering amount of the world's plasma or blood, can't remember if it's both or just plasma.  That's because the US is one of the few countries in the world that allows payment to donors.

Yeah man. There are loads of lower income people who make regular donations. I used to know many of them when I was younger, when most all of us were low income.