NCJ Number
80771
Date Published
1981
Length
23 pages
Annotation
A brief history of prison litigation is presented, along with factors that influence filings, alternatives to litigation, U.S. Supreme Court decisions, and basic issues in court decisions.
Abstract
To improve their lot, inmates have resorted to lawsuits alleging their constitutional rights are being infringed in violation of the 14th amendment, which forbids a State to 'deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law,' and the 1871 Civil Rights Act, which prohibits any person under the cover of law from denying anyone rights, privileges, and immunities guaranteed by the Constitution and the laws of the United States. Inmate suits most commonly assert denial of proper medical care, property damage, denial of due process, and interference with access to the courts. Factors that influence filings include prison overcrowding, poor prison conditions and restrictive rules, substantive law and court decisions, the receptivity of individual Federal judges to inmate suits, the availability of administrative remedies, 'jailhouse' lawyering, and the availability of legal assistance. Effort to develop alternatives to inmate litigation include inmate institutions commissions, ombudsmen, visitor's committees, inmate grievance procedures, and prelitigation mediation. Major U.S. Supreme Court decisions on prison conditions are Estell v. Gamble; Bounds v. Smith; Jones v. North Carolina Prisoner's Labor Union, Inc.; Chapman v. Rhodes; and Meachum v. Fano. Court cases under various inmate allegations are listed.