Resources for Advocates
Self-Help Guides for Incarcerated People
& Their Families
- Columbia Law School's A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual (last updated 2017)
- Medical Care for Prisoners, The Center for Prisoner Health & Human Rights (last visited Apr. 23, 2018)
- The Innocence Network (Wrongful Convictions)
- Center for Constitutional Rights, The Jailhouse Lawyer's Handbook (last updated 2010)
- Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, Prisoner's Rights Handbook (last updated 2013) [DE, NJ, PA specific]
- Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, Family Unity Project (updates varies)
- Children of Incarcerated Parents Library, The National Resource Center on Children and Families of the Incarcerated, Rutgers University-Camden (page last updated Aug. 2015
Solitary Confinement
Legal Documents
Recent Court Decisions
- Memorandum Opinion, Porter v. Clarke, Civil Action No. 1:14-cv-01588-LMB-IDD (Feb. 21, 2018)
- Memorandum & Order, Parker v. City of New York, Civil Action No. 15 CV 6733 (CLP) (Dec. 11, 2017).
Recent Complaints
Reports
Incarcerated Women
Legal Documents
Recent Court Decisions
- Coming soon
Complaints
- Seitz v. Allegheny County (W.D. Pa. Dec. 19, 2016)
- K.C. v. Nedelkoff (W.D. Tex. June 12, 2008)
- U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Detention and Treatment of Pregnant Women (Nov. 13, 2017).
Recent Settlement Agreements and Consent Decress
Reports
- Girls Matter: Centering Gender in Status Offense Reform Efforts
- Gina Clayton et al., Because She's Powerful: The Political Isolation and Resistance of Women with Incarcerated Loved Ones
- An Unsupported Population: The Treatment of Women in the Texas Criminal Justice System, Texas Criminal Justice Coalition (Apr. 2018)
- Wendy Sawyer, The Gender Divide: Tracking women's state prison growth, Prison Policy Initiative (Jan. 9, 2018)
- Girls Confined to Youth Prisons in the United States, ACLU (2009)
Incarcerated People with Disabilities
Learn More
- Talila A. Lewis, Syllabus: Disability Justice in the Age of Mass Incarceration (July 15, 2016)
Legal Documents
Recent Complaints
- Revised 2d Amend. Compl, Coen v. Georgia Department of Corrections, 5:16-cv-353-MTT (M.D.Ga. June 20, 2018)
- Class Action Compl. for Declaratory & Injunctive Relief, T.C. v. Kern County, Civil Action No.1:18-at-00121 (E.D. Cal. Feb. 21, 2018).
- Civil Action Compl. for Declaratory & Injunctive Relief, Murray v. County of Santa Barbara, Civil Action No. 2:17-cv-08805 (CD. Cal. Dec. 6, 2017).
- Declaratory & Injunctive Relief, Disability Rights Florida v. Jones, Civil Action No. 4:16-cv-00047-WS-CAS (Jan. 26, 2016)
- Compl., Blue v. Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services (DPSCS), Civil Action No. 1:16-cv-00945-RDB (Sept. 6, 2016).
- Class Action Compl., Lewis, et al., v. Cain, et al., Civ. Action No. 3:15-cv-00318-BAJ-RLB (May 20, 2015)
- 1st Amend. Compl., Dunn v. Thomas, Civil Action No. 2:14-cv-00601 (M.D. Al. July 25, 2014)
- Civ. Class Action Compl. for Declaratory & Injunctive Relief, Hernandez v. Cnty. of Monterrey, Civil Action 13-02354 (May 23, 2013)
Recent Settlement Agreements & Consent Decrees
- Joint Submission of Revised Settlement Agreement, In the Matter of Litigation Related to the Conditions of Confinement at Montana State Prison (Langford v. Bullock), Case No. CV 93-46-H-DWM-JCL (D. Mont. Feb. 23, 2018)
- Consent Decree, Turner v. Cnty. of San Bernardino (C.D. Cal. Mar. 29, 2018)
- Settlement Agreement, Dunn v. Dunn, Civil Action No. 2:14-cv-00601 (M.D. Al. March 15, 2016)
- Settlement Agreement, Hernandez v. Cnty. of Monterrey, Civ. Action No. 13-2354 (May 7, 2015)
Reports
- Jamelia N. Morgan, Caged In: The Devastating Harm of Solitary Confinement on Prisoners with Physical Disabilities, 24 Buff. Hum. Rts. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2018). [Link to ACLU Report]
- Rebecca Vallas, Disabled Behind Bars, Center for American Progress (Jul. 18, 2016)
Social Science Research
- Anne Milgram, et al., Integrated Health Care and Criminal Justice Data — Viewing the Intersection of Public Safety, Public Health, and Public Policy Through a New Lens: Lessons from Camden, New Jersey, Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, Harvard Kennedy School (April 2018).
- Andrea Hollomotz, et al., Behaviour That Challenges: Planning services for people with learning disabilities and/or autism who sexually offend, Univ. of Leeds (Apr. 2018).
Miscellaneous Resources
- ACLU, Know Your Rights: Legal Rights of Prisoners with Disabilities (last updated Oct. '16)
- ACLU, Overview of the American with Disabilities Act Regulations (Note: as applied to prisons and jails) (last updated Jan. 2017)
- ACLU, Recommendations for Systemic Change & Reform (Jan. 2017)
- Providing Effective Communication for Clients who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, or Deaf/Blind (A Handbook for Florida Attorneys)
- National Disability Rights Network, Protection & Advocacy for Individuals with Disabilities
- Submit information about deaf/disabled incarcerated people
Abolition
- Critical Resistance, The Abolitionist Toolkit (2004)
- Prison Abolition Syllabus, African American Intellectual History Society (Nov. 20, 2016)
- Prison Abolition Class Syllabus, Black & Pink (undated)
Excessive Force & Strip Searches
coming soon.
First Amendment Freedoms
coming soon.
Toxic Prisons
Resources
Juvenile Life without Parole / Death by Incarceration
coming soon.