CHAPTER 5: Law of Corrections

Prisoners can sue their keepers.
Why? Because prisoners have rights.

Know terms:
  --Constitution
  --Statutes
  --case law
  --Regulations
  --prison policies

The term  PRISONERS RIGHTS refers  to those civil  and related
rights prisoners retain as members of our society.   Although the
prisoners rights is  relatively recent,  emerging only  in the
1960s, the roots go back to the the mid-19th century,  beginning
with the 14th  amendment.   The relevant language  of the 14th
amendment holds that:

      No state  shall make or  enforce any law  which shall
      abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
      United States;  nor shall any state deprive any person
      of life, liberty, or property,  without due process of
      law nor deny to any  person within its jurisdiction the
      equal protection of the laws [emphasis added].

At the same time,  Congress passed  a civil rights act [Title 42
U.S.C.   [Section] 1983), which provides the basis for contemporary 
prisoner  rights.   Although modified and  renewed several
times between 1866-1877,  the relevant  language of the original
civil rights legislation today remains essentially unchanged:

      Every person who,  under color of any statute,  ordinance,
      regulation, custom,  or usage,  of any State or
      Territory, subjects,  or causes to be subjected,  any
      citizen of the United States or other person within the
      jurisdiction thereof to the  deprivation of any rights,
      privileges,  or immunities secured by the Constitution
      and laws,  shall be liable to  the party injured in an
      action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding 
      for redress.

 Prisoners have expanded their rights by filing civil rights suits
 under Section 1983. Contrary to critics, who claim that prisoners
 file suits simply to get out of prison, in 1987,  the bulk (70%)
 of all prisoners' suits are civil rights suits.

In 1963, the Warren Court also handed down its landmark decision in
Monroe v. Pate /(365 U.S. 167, 1961),/
which resurrected nineteenth century civil rights legislation and provided 
the legislative justification for redressing state civil rights complaints 
in federal courts.  A few years later, a federal appellate court
extended to prisoners the First Amendment right to freely exercise their 
religion when it recognized the legitimacy of Black Muslims
(Cooper v. Pate, /382 F.2d 518, 7th Circuit, 1967)./
More importantly, the Cooper decision for the first time explicitly allowed 
state prisoners to file federal litigation under the Civil Rights Act.

WHAT IS PRISONER LITIGATION?   Suits filed by state or federal prisoners
in federal courts that either  challenge their continued confinement
or challenge prison conditions or policies.
Two basic types of petitions (the thing prisoners file is called
a "petition" because they are petitioning the court to hear their case):

     1) HABEAS CORPUS: These are "let me out of here" petitions

     2) CIVIL RIGHTS: These are "clean this place up" complaints

HOW DO PRISONERS FILE? Prisoners can hire an attorney and pay the
filing fees (what the court charges to file a petition). This is
expensive, and at last check, it cost about $350 to file a civil
suit in federal court. Most prisoners can't afford an attorney.
So, they can file PRO SE and INFORMA PAUPERIS.

    1) PRO SE - Filing on your own behalf if you can't afford and
       attorney
    
    2) IN FORMA PAUPERIS: Filing as a poor person if you can show
       you have no money

WHY DO PRISONERS SUE?   The reason that prisoners file.   The primary
reasons for civil rights suits:

    Internal Policies (28%)
    Original Case (19%)
    Violence (18%)
    Conditions (16%)
    Bill of Rights (8%)
    External Policies (6%)
    Other (5%)

Reasons for the EXPANSION of prisoner litigation:

     1) Civil rights struggles
     2) changing notion of rights 
     3) public awareness of conditions 
     4) Black Muslims 
     5) External support groups 
     6) increased literacy of prisoners
     7) Jailhouse lawyers

Underlying rationale for 
     1) punishment must be "least restrictive" (classical school?)
     2) Prison rules are ok if there is a compelling state interest
     3) Rules/policies/punishments are fine if there is clear and      
        present danger

Consequences of Litigation: 
    1) Social 
    2) Judicial 
    3) Prison administration
    4) Prison existence

Prisoner Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) (1996)
    1) Purpose
    2) Main Provisions
       --exhaustion requirement
       --"three strikes"
       --Curtailed attorney/prisoner awards & fees
       --Prisoners pay full cost for filing (based on projected ability to pay)


Alternatives
    1) Ombudsman
    2) Grievance councils/procedures
    3) Mediation
    4) Fewer prisons and prisoners
    5) More emphasis on scaled sentences

Who cares?

    1) We claim that prisons are a verb and change over time.
       Litigation is one way that has shaped prison changes

    2) Humanitarian reasons: Prisoners deserve basic rights

    3) Makes prisons accountable

    4) A safety valve for prisoners with grievances

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