P risoners also have limited rights to speech and religion. State prisoners have no rights to particular classifications under state law. Courts are extremely reluctant to limit the discretion of state prison officials to classify prisoners. Congress has given federal prison officials full discretion to control prisoner classification as affecting conditions of confinement. Generally, such matters are left to the control of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Courts tend to give deference to prison officials regarding prisoners' rights.
So long as the conditions or degree of a prisoner's confinement are within the sentence and not otherwise violative of the Constitution the due process clause does not require judicial oversight. For prison regulations that do impinge on inmates' constitutional rights, the strict scrutiny test does not apply.