McKune v. Lile, 536 U.S. 24, 13 (2002)

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36

McKUNE v. LILE

Opinion of Kennedy, J.

317 U. S. 424, 427 (1943), and the Court has insisted that the "constitutional guarantee is only that the witness not be compelled to give self-incriminating testimony." United States v. Washington, 431 U. S. 181, 188 (1977). The consequences in question here—a transfer to another prison where television sets are not placed in each inmate's cell, where exercise facilities are not readily available, and where work and wage opportunities are more limited—are not ones that compel a prisoner to speak about his past crimes despite a desire to remain silent. The fact that these consequences are imposed on prisoners, rather than ordinary citizens, moreover, is important in weighing respondent's constitutional claim.

The privilege against self-incrimination does not terminate at the jailhouse door, but the fact of a valid conviction and the ensuing restrictions on liberty are essential to the Fifth Amendment analysis. Sandin v. Conner, 515 U. S. 472, 485 (1995) ("[L]awful incarceration brings about the necessary withdrawal or limitation of many privileges and rights, a retraction justified by the considerations underlying our penal system" (citation and internal quotation marks omitted)). A broad range of choices that might infringe constitutional rights in a free society fall within the expected conditions of confinement of those who have suffered a lawful conviction.

The Court has instructed that rehabilitation is a legitimate penological interest that must be weighed against the exercise of an inmate's liberty. See, e. g., O'Lone v. Estate of Shabazz, 482 U. S. 342, 348, 351 (1987). Since "most offenders will eventually return to society, [a] paramount objective of the corrections system is the rehabilitation of those committed to its custody." Pell v. Procunier, 417 U. S. 817, 823 (1974). Acceptance of responsibility in turn demonstrates that an offender "is ready and willing to admit his crime and to enter the correctional system in a frame of mind that affords hope for success in rehabilitation over a shorter period

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