[Torkel]

Of course inmates should have decent drinking water.

But I strongly disagree with "human rights" that are defined this way - something someone has to go out and bring to you.

A human right is something that someone cannot take away from me. Free speech is a human right. The right to life.

A "human right to water" combined with a "human right to housing" implies that if I walk aimlessly into a desert and decide to stay there, it is my human right to have people bring we water and a place to stay. Other people not doing so is against my human rights.

That's just... dumb.

And, again - inmates should have clean water.

[wahnfrieden]

Caged people are actively denied access to clean water that is readily available in their vicinity. They aren't in these cages due to aimless wandering in the desert - the state put them in there.

[Torkel]

See, this is why I put "inmates should have decent drinking water" first in my comment, and "inmates should have clean water" as the very last words.

It seems to me you are making the exact error in argument I react against. Stop making everything a "human right". You see, in the end, when you've made everything "human rights", the whole "human rights" concept will cease to have any meaning whatsoever and you will have lost.

[iamnothere]

The ability to convey oneself to water, collect it, and drink it is a natural right. If this right is removed by state incarceration then the state needs to provide a safe substitute, unless laws provide for punishment through dehydration (which seems cruel and unusual to me).

This isn’t cleanly mapped to typical notions of human rights, but it’s still a question of rights.