A minority? They're not a certain race or anything like that, they're criminals. Now, sure, they should be afforded basic human rights--if they're under the care of the government, they should be given BASIC, nutritional food, and sanitary living conditions. And also, criminals should not be treated extremely cruel--there are a lot of things that fall under "cruel and unusual punishment", but there are also a lot that DON'T.

Criminals get TV? Hell no. Maybe CNN or FOX News, maybe CSpan, that's it. Reading material? Research books, encyclopedias, novels. And current newspapers. No porn, no smut, no dirty magazines. Conjugal visits? No friggin way.