Chapter 16

The Litigation Process

Black-and-white pencil drawing: Prison law library and handcuffs opening

Two prisoners sit in law library in front of books and handwritten briefs

Photo portraits of David Ruiz and Judge William Wayne Justice (1978)

Fig 1.15 - Litigation Rate Prisoner Civil Rights Lawsuits, 1970-2022

Showing Slide 1 of 4: Black-and-white pencil drawing: Prison law library and handcuffs opening

Chapter Overview

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

Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662 (2009)
Booth v. Churner, 532 U.S. 731 (2001)
Haines v. Kerner, 404 U.S. 519 (1972)
Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 199 (2007)
Lomax v. Ortiz-Marquez, 140 S.Ct. 1721 (2020)
Perttu v. Richards, 605 U.S. 460 (2025)
Porter v. Nussle, 534 U.S. 516 (2002)
Ramirez v. Collier, 595 U.S. 411 (2022)
Reed-Bey v. Pramstaller, 603 F.3d 322 (6th Cir. 2010)
Rivera v. Allin, 144 F.3d 719 (11th Cir. 1998)
Ross v. Blake, 578 U.S. 632 (2016)
Ross v. Bock, No. 16–cv–8672 (2017)
Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81 (2006)
Valentine v. Collier, 978 F.3d 154 (5th Cir. 2020)

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 (Dec. 1, 2023)
- U.S. Court of Appeals Misc. Fee Schedule (Dec. 1, 2023)
Criminal Justice Act (CJA), 18 U.S.C. § 3006A
- Office of the U.S. Courts, Guide to Judiciary Policy, Vol. 7: Defender Services (updated 2025)

Excerpted Sources & 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)

Lived Experiences

Data & Figures

Additional Reading

Process of Litigation

Richard H. Frankel & Alistair E. Newbern, Prisoners and Pleading, 94 Wash. U.L. Rev. 899 (2017)
Rachel Poser, Why It’s Nearly Impossible for Prisoners to Sue Prisons, The New Yorker (May 2016)
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)
Alysia Santo, Suing from Prison, The Marshall Project (Feb. 2015)
Louis Schexnayder & Andrew Cohen, His Appeal in Louisiana Was a Sham Proceeding. But the High Court Won’t Review the Case, The Marshall Project (Dec. 2019)
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 PLRA Handbook: Law and Practice Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (2022)
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)
Andrea Fenster & Margo Schlanger, Slamming the Courthouse Door: 25 years of evidence for repealing the Prison Litigation Reform Act, Prison Policy Initiative (Apr. 2021)
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 (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)