Chapter 16
The Litigation Process
This Chapter focuses on litigation issues particular to the subject matter or litigants in prison/jail cases. Much but not all of the Chapter addresses provisions of the 1996 Prison Litigation Reform Act.
Featured Opinions
- Ross v. Blake, 136 S.Ct. 1850 (2016)
- Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81 (2006)
Statutes, Treaties, and Regulations
- None
Statutes, Treaties, and Regulations
- Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), 42 U.S.C. §§ 1997 et seq. (Posted version redlined to show changes since 1980 enactment)
- Prison Litigation Reform Act, Pub. L. No. 104–134 (1996). See in particular:
- 42 U.S.C. § 1997e
- 28 U.S.C. § 1915
- 28 U.S.C. § 1915A
- Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) regulations:
- For all PREA regulations see: DOJ PREA Rule, 28 C.F.R. Part 115; DHS PREA Rule, 6 C.F.R. Part 115 (see in particular 28 C.F.R. § 115.52(b)(3); 28 C.F.R. § 115.52(c); 28 C.F.R. § 115.52(b)(1)).
- Court filing fees
- 28 U.S.C. § 1914
- U.S. District Court Misc. Fee Schedule (Oct. 1, 2019)
- U.S. Court of Appeals Misc. Fee Schedule
Non-case Excerpts and Supplemental Documents
- Senator Jon Kyl, Top 10 Frivolous Inmate Lawsuits Nationally, 141 Cong. Rec. S14611–01 (Sept. 29, 1995). See p. S14628-9.
- Margo Schlanger & Betsy Ginsberg, Pandemic Rules: COVID-19 and the Prison Litigation Reform Act’s Exhaustion Requirement,
72 Case Western Res. L. Rev (2022)
Data, Figures, and Tables
See Data Supplement page
Table 16.1: Pro Se Rate, Prisoner Civil Rights Cases in Federal Court
Table 16.2: Federal Court Outcome Statistics
Additional Reading
Other Cited Sources
Litigation, pleading, etc.
- Richard H. Frankel & Alistair E. Newbern, Prisoners and Pleading, 94 Wash. U.L. Rev. 899 (2017)
- Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies 2014, Highlights from the U.S. PIAAC Survey of Incarcerated Adults: Their Skills, Work Experience, Education, and Training (Nov. 2016)
- Alexander A. Reinert, Measuring the Impact of Plausibility Pleading, 101 Va. L. Rev. 2117 (2015)
- Margo Schlanger, Inmate Litigation, 116 Harv. L. Rev. 1555 (2003)
- Rory K. Schneider, Illiberal Construction of Pro Se Pleadings, 159 U. Pa. L. Rev. 585 (2011)
Grievance systems, administrative exhaustion
- John Boston, The Administrative Exhaustion Requirement of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (Jan. 6, 2020) (unpublished manuscript)
- Lynn S. Branham et al., Am. Bar Assoc. Criminal Justice Section, Limiting the Burdens of Pro Se Inmate Litigation: A Technical-Assistance Manual for Courts, Correctional Officials, and Attorneys General (1997)
- Lynn S. Branham, The Prison Litigation Reform Act’s Enigmatic Exhaustion Requirement: What It Means and What Congress, Courts and Correctional Officials Can Learn from It, 86 Cornell L. Rev. 483 (2001)
- Kitty Calavita & Valerie Jenness, Appealing to Justice: Prisoner Grievances, Rights, and Carceral Logic (2014)
- Donald P. Lay, Exhaustion of Grievance Procedures for State Prisoners Under Section 1997e of the Civil Rights Act, 71 Iowa L. Rev. 935 (1986)
- Michigan Law Prison Information Project, Prison and Jail Grievance Policies: Lessons from a Fifty-State Survey (Oct. 2015)
- Dora Schriro, Correcting Corrections: Missouri’s Parallel Universe, in Sentencing and Corrections: Issues for the 21st Century (May 2000)
Prison Litigation Reform Act
- ABA, Criminal Justice Section, Report to the House of Delegates, Rep. 102B (2007)
- ACLU National Prison Project, The Top Ten Non-Frivolous Lawsuits Filed by Prisoners (Feb. 11, 1996)
- Human Rights Watch, No Equal Justice: The Prison Litigation Reform Act in the United States (2009)
- Jon O. Newman, Foreword: Pro Se Prisoner Litigation: Looking for Needles in Haystacks, 62 Brook. L. Rev. 519, 520 (1996)
- Margo Schlanger, Inmate Litigation, 116 Harv. L. Rev. 1555 (2003)
- Paul Wright & Dan Pens, Prison Legal News’ Top Ten Non-Frivolous Prisoner Lawsuits, in The Celling of America 58 (Daniel Burton-Rose with Dan Pens & Paul Wright eds., 1998)