NCJ Number
100564
Editor(s)
I P Robbins
Date Published
1985
Length
860 pages
Annotation
These papers provide an overview of prison law and discuss the litigation and enforcement of prisoners' rights, procedural aspects of inmate litigation, special issues of prisoners' rights, and the future of prison reform.
Abstract
The overview of prison law presents a Federal judge's reflections on trends in the Federal courts' addressing of inmates' rights, followed by a review of the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions in Bell v. Wolfish and Rhodes v. Chapman, which have apparently changed the trend of extensive court involvement in the reform of prison conditions. Papers on the litigation and enforcement of prisoners' rights consider the legal parameters of the prison's censorship role, inmate privacy and possessory rights, due process litigation, prison overcrowding, and defenses in prison-conditions cases. Other articles on litigation and enforcement pertain to the litigation of death-row conditions, supervisory liability, and parolee rights. Among the procedural aspects of inmate litigation discussed are the role of the U.S. magistrate, witnesses, challenges to the duration of confinement, and an analysis of the politics of Federal habeas corpus relitigation. Special legal issues reviewed pertain to the segregation of homosexual inmates, prison riots, inmate financial assessments, and jail conditions. Papers on the future of prison reform focus on the accreditation debate, restitution as a principal corrections goal, and the legal barriers to prison industries. The appendix provides a State-by-State listing of names and addresses of organizations that assist prisoners. For individual articles, see NCJ 100565-80. Chapter notes.