Our Roots • Flashlights
Our Roots • Flashlights
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ethics of care
Welcome.

Get to know jailhouse lawyers and their loved ones through the words, wisdom, and experiences of incarcerated individuals who teach themselves the law to advocate for themselves and the rights of their peers.

Please take care as you interact with these stories as they provide insight into alternatives and solutions to mass incarceration, but also touch upon difficult content, including confinement, medical neglect, and death, and retaliation that jailhouse lawyers routinely experience– from solitary confinement to transfers and restrictions on accessing law libraries and resources – simply because they seek to know, use, and shape law.

Additionally, please approach this website with respect, care, responsibility, including without an intent of exploitation.

This website was crafted on these principles, and we hope you enter this space feeling the same.
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(01)
Home page
A digital home to introduce you to jailhouse lawyers, incarcerated individuals who teach themselves the law to advocate for themselves and the rights of their peers.
JOIN US
ETHICS OF CARE
(02)
We are
Jhody Polk, a former jailhouse lawyer from Florida, partnered with NYU School of Law’s Bernstein Institute for Human Rights to create the Jailhouse Lawyers Initiative (JLI), empowering jailhouse lawyers to end mass incarceration.
(03)
Our roots
The history of jailhouse lawyers dates to the 18th Century, showing hope, resilience, and resistance. Discover our timeline to explore the emergence and impact of jailhouse lawyers.
(04)
Our voices
Get to know jailhouse lawyers and their loved ones through the words and experiences of incarcerated individuals who teach themselves the law to advocate for their rights.
(05)
Us too
Recognizing the need for a feminist approach, we created Feminist Circles in and out of prisons. Women can share experiences and strategies to transform the law from within.
1700s–1900s
CH.1
1920s–1960s
CH.2
1970s–1990s
CH.3
2000s–present
CH.4
1790
1826
1873
1880
1891
1920
1961
1962
1963
1964
1967
1969
1971
1973
1977
1983
1990
1996
2009
2012
2016
2017
2018
2020

The history of jailhouse lawyers

A brief historical overview of the emergence and impact of jailhouse lawyers in the legal system
CH.1
1700s–1900s
CH.2
1920s–1960s
CH.3
1970s–1990s
CH.4
2000s–present
Period 1

1700s–1900s

Establishment of the prison system
1790
1826
1873
1880
1891
1920
1961
1962
1963
1964
1967
1969
1971
1973
1977
1983
1990
1996
2009
2012
2016
2017
2018
2020
1790

The first US penitentiary,

Prison building
Prison building
Prison building

Walnut Street Jail, opens in Philadelphia

1826

first “profitable” prison

          After being constructed by incarcerated people, Sing Sing opens in New York. It is infamous 
for its harsh conditions.
Fame
prison
1/2

“Ossining” is derived from a Native American word meaning “stone on stone”.

Sing Sing comes from the name of the Sint Sincks, a native American people who inhabited this area for thousands of years. It roughly translates to a "stony place." The state selected this location for the prison because of the large quantity of limestone, nicknamed "Sing Sing marble," on the site.
2/2


The state considered incarcerated labor to be a form of retribution and rehabilitation, as well as a way to ensure the economic self-sufficiency of the prison.

Incarcerated people worked in many industries at Sing Sing, constructing barrels, boots and shoes, hats, brushes, mattresses, carpets, saddles, molasses hogsheads for rum dealers, and stoves, among other items.
prison contractors
prison contractors
               Regarded as the first “profitable” prison for exploiting its incarcerated population in factory-style workshops for outside contractors, Sing Sing is arguably the precursor to the prison industrial complex.
Precursor
the Indiana Women’s Prison
woman prisoner
1873
The Indiana Women’s Prison

The first public and separate women’s prison

“Who Would Believe a Prisoner?” Indiana Women’s Carceral Institutions, 1848–1920
A group of scholars currently and formerly incarcerated at Indiana Women's Prison recently published an anthology that details the violence at IWP and challenges the portrayal that IWP “progressively” protected women from abuses in the state’s prison that confined women with men.
who would believe a prisoner book
Indiana Women’s Prison
A woman feeding chickens
            Some historians, however, argue that “Magdalene Laundries,” Catholic institutions established in the 1840s, were the first private prisons for women with “offensive” sexuality.
Dispute
1880

Slavery Continued

Angola prisoners
Louisiana State Penitentiary
          The Louisiana State Penitentiary is named Angola after the slave plantation on which it was built.
Origin
Angola is known as “the bloodiest prison in the South” and “the Alcatraz of the South.”
prisoners
Former Confederate Major Samuel James bought the plantation, changed the quarters for enslaved people into jail cells, and recreated slavery by instituting forced penal labor.
1891

“Three Prisons Act”

Creates the Federal Prisons System under the Department of Justice
Levenworth, est.1891
Atlanta, est.1902
McNeil Island, est.1909
          These three institutions make up the entire system for many years. They gradually become heavily overcrowded as new laws — such as the Volstead Act in 1919, which introduces Prohibition — create new categories of crime and exponentially increase the number of people incarcerated in federal prisons.
Fame
Levenworth Penitentiary
Leavenworth Penitentiary
It took incarcerated people 25 years to build Leavenworth Penitentiary. They lived in an old military fort appropriated by the federal government while they worked on the construction of a modern building designed to hold 1,200 men.
McNeil Island Penitentiary & UPS Atlanta
McNeil Island Penitentiary
USP Atlanta
Period 2

1920s–1960s

initial actions to safeguard the rights of incarcerated individuals
1790
1826
1873
1880
1891
1920
1961
1962
1963
1964
1967
1969
1971
1973
1977
1983
1990
1996
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2020
1920

Eugene Victor Debs

Vintage Socialist Party political campaign poster with industrial and agricultural imagery.
“The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.”
(Eugene Victor Debs)
A collage of old mugshot-style photos showing a person in profile and frontal views, with a number "9653" on a tag.
Text "STOP WAR"Text "STOP WAR"
          Eugene Victor Debs, a socialist leader, runs for president while incarcerated in Atlanta for giving an anti-war speech, and he places at a distant third.
People
A century later, for the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections, a former jailhouse lawyer Andy “Hope” Williams Jr., “the Hood Candidate,” runs on an agenda to represent the people 
and “restore the neighbor back in the hood.”
Vintage political campaign poster for "Eugene Victor Debs," with text and decorative elements.Vintage political cartoon depicting Eugene Debs scattering papers labeled "Socialism" over fields labeled "Factory" and "Farm."Vintage "For President" campaign button with convict number.
Vintage photo of a group of individuals on stage with a large American flag in the background.
Man in red speaking to an audience with a gesturing hand.
1961

Pierce v. LaVallee

          Puerto-Rican Black Muslim jailhouse lawyer Martin Sostre claims prison officials denied him access to the Koran, put him in solitary confinement, withheld good time credits due to his religious beliefs, and prevented him from seeing a spiritual advisor.
Case
Person wearing a beanie and denim jacket sitting down, with a wristwatch visible on their left wrist.
          Filed by Sostre, the case recognizes the right of incarcerated men to practice their religion, meaning that incarcerated people have constitutionally protected rights, including the right to challenge prison conditions.
Case
Scholars describe this case as the Brown v. Board of Education of the prisoners’ rights movement.
[Pierce v. LaVallee]
Old newspaper clipping with headline "MARTIN SOSTRE—FRAMED" and a quote by Ruchell Magee.A black and white photo of an Afro-Asian book shop with political posters and banners.An image of a newspaper article titled "The Open Road Interview with MARTIN SOSTRE" with text content that is partially visible.Cover of "The Crime of Martin Sostre" book by Vincent Copeland in a vintage design.Red and white illustration of a bald man behind bars with a castle tower, labeled "The New Prisoner" by Martin Sostre.
“I cannot submit to injustices, even minor ones. Once one starts submitting to minor injustices and rationalizes them away, their accumulation creates a major oppression. That's how entire peoples fell into slavery.”
(Martin Sostre)
1963

Gideon v. 
Wainwright

Black and white photo of a person in a light shirt with the head region obscured.
“Lawyers in criminal courts are necessities, not luxuries.”
(Clarence Earl Gideon)
          Gideon v. Wainwright changes the criminal legal system forever. Clarence Earl Gideon is a 51-year-old unhoused man with an eighth-grade education who was charged with breaking and entering a local pool hall.
Case
After Florida refused to provide him an attorney, he handwrites a petition for writ of certiorari.
Vintage document titled "Correspondence Regulations," with handwritten text underneath.Four old black and white mugshots of a man in a black shirt, with face obscured.
Men in suits in a green-tinted meeting room, appearing to engage in a serious discussion.
             The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Sixth Amendment promise of assistance to counsel applies to all people, even those too poor to afford a lawyer.
Decision
[Gideon v. Wainwright case]
Group of individuals in robes posing in a formal setting with a portrait in the background.
ORAL ARGUMENT, JAN 15, ’63
02:06:00

Richard Mayberry Challenges reading law

          A prolific jailhouse lawyer, Richard Mayberry was notable for several cases, including U.S. ex rel. Mayberry v. Myers and Prasse.
Fame
[Mayberry v. Myers and Prasse,
225 F. Supp. 752 (E.D. Pa. 12/4/63)]
A page from an article titled "READING LAW IN PRISON" discussing prisoners' access to legal research.Cover of "Legal Research" book, part of the "In a Nutshell" series by Thomson West.
Person in striped outfit reading a book against a brick wall background.
Hands holding a book through prison bars, black and white image.
          Before prisons had law libraries, law books were considered contraband and incarcerated people who possessed them were punished with solitary confinement. While in solitary, Mayberry files a complaint and wins the right to buy law books.
Fame
          About a decade later, through Imprisoned Citizens Union v. Shapp, Mayberry challenges health issues, overcrowding, and other abusive conditions of confinement in Pennsylvania prisons.
Case
The ICU provisions guide future Pennsylvania regulations until the passage of the Prison Litigation Reform Act.
Black and white image of an article about a jailhouse lawyer, with a small photo of two men discussing papers.
Read full article
1964

Cooper v. Pate

A group of people sitting in front of the Taj Mahal with their faces obscured.
Jailhouse lawyer Thomas Cooper files a writ of certiorari claiming that, based solely on his status as a Black Muslim, he was denied the opportunity to purchase religious literature as well as various privileges afforded to other incarcerated people.
A page from the October Term, 1963 Supreme Court case Cooper v. Pate, detailing the court's decision.
Silhouetted figures by a window, newspaper clipping, and partial Islamic symbol visible.
Case
The Supreme Court rules that the Bill
of Rights applies inside of prisons and incarcerated people are protected under the Civil Rights Act of 1871.
Person sleeping inside a car, covered with a jacket, in grayscale.Person sleeping inside a car, covered with a jacket, in grayscale.Person sleeping inside a car, covered with a jacket, in grayscale.Person sleeping inside a car, covered with a jacket, in grayscale.Person sleeping inside a car, covered with a jacket, in grayscale.Person sleeping inside a car, covered with a jacket, in grayscale.
The decision may have been unremarkable initially, but the Supreme Court's ruling to overturn the lower court's decision paved the way for incarcerated individuals to file lawsuits.
A group of people in white attire sitting closely together.
An old newspaper titled "Muhammad Speaks" with the headline "WE MUST HAVE JUSTICE!"
1967

Jerry “the Jew” Rosenberg

Side and front view mugshots of a man in a suit with a police placard, dated 9/11/57.
Renowned as the greatest jailhouse lawyer in history, he becomes the first incarcerated person in New York to earn a law degree from Blackstone School of Law.
A grayscale image of a large crowd raising fists in front of a building.
          Jerry was a leader in the 1971 Attica Prison Uprising, filed over 200 lawsuits for his peers, and became the only jailhouse lawyer in history permitted to formally represent another incarcerated person in open court in Rizzo v. Michaud in 1974.
Case
A person in a red jacket sitting with hands clasped, surrounded by others in a dimly lit room.
More on Jerry Rosenberg's work and legacy
Cover of "Doing Life" book with title designed like jail bars.
Book cover titled "DOING LIFE" with a silhouette of a person behind blue vertical bars.Poster for "Attica" film with a blue-toned crowd image and red title text.
Vertical filmstrip with historical images, text about Attica and headlines from N.Y. Post, September 9, 1971.Filmstrip with various scenes, including officers and headlines about a jail incident from 1971.
A filmstrip collage containing various scenes with people, vehicles, and newspaper headlines.Filmstrip of various black and white images with red border sprocket holes and text overlays.
              Rosenberg died in prison in 2009 after 46 years of incarceration — the longest time served by anyone incarcerated in New York at the time.
Life term
Person pointing at a cubist painting on the wall.
1969

Johnson v. Avery

          Prison officials in Tennessee confiscate William Joe Johnson's law books and typewriter and punish him with solitary confinement for helping his peers with legal papers. Johnson, who is serving a life sentence, sues in 1965.
Case
Black and white photo of an empty prison corridor with cells on both sides.
1/4             Supreme Court Decision

The state of Tennessee, by enforcing this prison rule, and by providing no alternative assistance, has effectively blocked access to the courts by those prisoners who are indigent and inarticulate or illiterate, and that to so prevent these people from being heard is a violation of due process, a violation of equal protection, and a violation of the First Amendment freedoms of speech and the right to petition for redress of grievances.
2/4             Supreme Court Decision

All William Joe Johnson has done in this case is to help these men articulate those things that they would have said for themselves if they had been able to say them for themselves.
3/4             Supreme Court Decision

It seems to me that we have never doubted the common law right of one layman to petition for another layman and the one who is being held captive could not speak for himself and when the one doing the petitioning is not an officious intermeddler. At most William Johnson here was a lay intermediary. All he ever did was call the court’s attention to these men. He did not benefit in any way except the satisfaction one human being gets from helping another.
4/4             Supreme Court Decision

Both federal and state law provide a route by which an imprisoned person can petition for release from imprisonment but by effectively denying an identifiable class of persons the right to use this law, hereby making the road Impossible for the indigent, inarticulate and illiterate, this post-conviction remedy becomes illusory. This is not just a deprivation of First Amendment rights, but it is also then a denial of equal protection laws.
          The Supreme Court rules in favor of Johnson, and reasons that incarcerated people cannot access the court without the help of a peer.
With this landmark ruling, the Supreme Court acknowledges the work of jailhouse lawyers for the first time.
Case
Period 3

1970s–1990s

large-scale struggle for rights
1790
1826
1873
1880
1891
1920
1961
1962
1963
1964
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1969
1971
1973
1977
1983
1990
1996
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2020
1971

Ruiz v. Estelle

                 From solitary confinement, Mexican-American jailhouse lawyer David Ruiz rewrites his previously rejected 30-page handwritten complaint against Texas prison conditions and bypasses prison administrators by giving it to a lawyer.
Back-story
Person in a leather jacket holding a briefcase with a chained hand.
          By 1974, his case, Ruiz v. Estelle, is merged with 7 other jailhouse lawyers’ suits and the United States intervenes on their side. They challenge Texas’ plantation-style prison system.
Case
This includes double and triple ceiling — the practice of crowding two or three people in a one-person cell — and the "building tender" program, by which prison officials armed some (usually white) incarcerated people to assist them as guards.
Illustration of a figure in a large sombrero and embroidered suit with a Mexican flag sash, text below.
David Ruiz painting of Emiliano Zapata
A person on horseback overseeing a group of workers in a field.
Group of individuals in white overalls working with tools in a field.Group of people holding shovels in a field, black and white photo.Man on horseback conversing with another man by a fenced area.
Texas’ plantation-style prison system
see more images
                Ruiz’s case abolishes the "building tender" programand introduces recreational facilities, better health care, improved sanitation, and fire safety requirements into the Texas system.
Aftermath
Pixelated image of a tilted, grayscale object on a black background.A pixelated depiction of a green cannabis leaf on a black background.Pixelated gray object with a red tip on a black background.Abstract cluster of blue pixels on a black background.
1973

“The War on Drugs” the era of mass 
incarceration

A global campaign, led by the U.S. federal government, of drug prohibition, military aid, 
and military intervention
            The War on Drugs begins the era 
of mass incarceration. Civil rights attorney and scholar Michelle Alexander       argues that mass incarceration is the United States’ new form of racialized social control targeting Black people and thus, "the new Jim Crow"
New era
Person with curly hair and a black top, against a two-tone circular background.
A crowd protesting with a banner reading "Free All Political Prisoners."
Two police officers and a person in mid-movement on a street, accentuated by sunlight and shadows.
Three individuals in suits stand behind a podium with the Presidential Seal.
Red poster with text "WAR ON DRUGS IS A WAR ON US!" with a silhouette overlay.
Black and white image of law enforcement officers escorting individuals on a street.
Two individuals being frisked by police officers.
A black and white photo of a chaotic scene with several individuals and law enforcement.
"Once the enemy in the war was racially defined, a wave of punitiveness took over. Congress and state legislatures nationwide devoted billions of dollars to the drug war..."
(Michelle Alexander)
A poster with "JIM CROW MUST GO" text and two mirrored statues on each side.
"The current system of control permanently locks a huge percentage of the African American community out of the mainstream society and economy. The system operates through our criminal justice institutions, but it functions more like a caste system than a system of crime control."
(Michelle Alexander)
Men sitting and standing in a dimly lit, dilapidated hallway.
Black and white photo of a person speaking into microphones at a protest with a sign reading "STOP IMPERIAL..." in the background.
Group of inmates in white uniforms walking in a green-tinted hallway.Person sitting on a bed behind bars in a green-tinted room.
a new form of 
gendered racialized social control

+525%

Despite there being more incarcerated men than women, the rise in the rate of women's imprisonment has been twice that of men's since 1980.
According to the Sentencing Project, 
the rate of incarcerated women increased by more than 525% from 1980 to 2021.
1977

Bounds v. Smith

The recognition and creation of law libraries.
A dimly lit library with rows of bookshelves and people reading at tables.
Case
In North Carolina, Robert Smith, Donald Morgan, and John Harrington sue because the state does not provide incarcerated people with proper legal facilities. Bounds v. Smith leads to the creation of law libraries in most major U.S. prisons.
[Bounds v. Smith case decision]
Person in a suit standing in front of bookshelves in a grayscale photo.
ORAL ARGUMENT, NOV 1, '76
02:06:00
jailhouse
lawyer’s manuals
Cover of "The Jailhouse Lawyer's Handbook" with vertical bars on top and bottom.Cover of "The Jailhouse Lawyer's Handbook" with courthouse illustration, 5th Edition, 2010.Cover of "The Jailhouse Lawyer’s Handbook,” featuring scales of justice and a courthouse illustration.Cover of "A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual, 11th Edition" by Columbia Human Rights Law Review.
                  Bounds v. Smith paves the way for the production of the Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual in 1978 (now in its 6th edition), a handbook of legal rights 
and procedures for incarcerated people.
To sensitize
                 However, North Carolina does not fix its constitutionally inadequate library system, and instead eliminates law libraries and contracts with the North Carolina Prisoner Legal Services (NCPLS).
NC system
The courts find that NCPLS, the only legal services provider for incarcerated people in the state, meets Bounds’ protected right to access the courts, not law libraries. Today, jailhouse lawyers do not have the legal right to practice the law in North Carolina and JLI's membership repeatedly reports that NCPLS offers inadequate services and even denies some people representation.
Black and white photo of a library with people at computers and a magazines section.
Man reading a paper in a library with other patrons at tables.
Black and white photo of a vintage library room with wall-to-wall bookshelves and scattered chairs.
1983

the sourcebook for jailhouse lawyers

A book titled "Prisoners' Self-Help Litigation Manual" by John Boston and Daniel E. Manville, Fourth Edition.
The sourcebook explains the country’s legal structure, outlines litigation strategies, and provides example formats.
Coauthor
Former jailhouse lawyer, Dan Manville, coauthors the Prisoners’ Self-Help Litigation Manual
Person with crossed arms in front of a bookshelf, black and white image.
“My prison life is still a part of me and I will take it to my grave. I can’t just walk away from what I did and what prison did to me.”
(Dan Manville)
1990

independent prisoner-rights publication

          Jailhouse lawyers Paul Wright and Ed Mead launch Prison Legal News.
Origin
Front page of "Prison Legal News" dedicated to detainee rights, titled "Soaring Number of Detainee Deaths" from August 2023.Text "Paul Wright - Prisoners' Rights Crusader" over a striped shirt figure on a beige background.
            Now part of the Human Rights Defense Center, Prison Legal News is the longest-running independent magazine that is edited, written, and published by currently and formerly incarcerated people.
Aspect
The publication has encountered multiple cases of censorship. To fight back against unconstitutional censorship, PLN has taken legal action and filed several lawsuits regarding public records and Freedom of Information Act requests.
Front page of "Prison Legal News" dedicated to detainee rights, titled "Soaring Number of Detainee Deaths" from August 2023.Front page of "Prison Legal News" dedicated to detainee rights, titled "Soaring Number of Detainee Deaths" from August 2023.Front page of "Prison Legal News" dedicated to detainee rights, titled "Soaring Number of Detainee Deaths" from August 2023.Front page of "Prison Legal News" dedicated to detainee rights, titled "Soaring Number of Detainee Deaths" from August 2023.
See the latest publications
1996

The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA)

            The PLRA limits the number of suits incarcerated people can file, makes it easier for the court to dismiss cases against the state, and makes it harder for jailhouse lawyers to obtain injunctions.
Outline
Civil rights lawsuits filed per 1,000 incarcerated people , 1970-2018
Source: Margo Schlanger, Incarcerated Population and Prisoner Civil Rights Filings, FY1970-FY2020
30
20
10
2007

minimal amount
1996

Prison Litigation Reform Act
1981

peak amount
Objection
Mumia Abu-Jamal calls the PLRA the “Prisoner Codes,” and argues that it stems from the Slave Codes and Black Codes that historically limited the freedom of Black people in the United States.
Cover of a CRS Report for Congress titled "Prison Litigation Reform Act: Survey of Post-Reform Act Prisoners' Civil Rights Cases" dated November 4, 1997.
Person with long dreadlocks in a white shirt, hands together in front.
Period 4

2000s–present

ONGOING BATTLE THAT INCARCERATED PEOPLE FACE
1790
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1920
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2020
2009

Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the USA

          Award-winning journalist, jailhouse lawyer on death row and former Black Panther, Mumia Abu-Jamal publishes the seminal Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners 
v. the USA.
About
A book cover titled "Jailhouse Lawyers" with text overlay and a person sitting at a table.
Wall with 'FREE THE PANTHERS' banner and Black Panther Party posters.
Mumia Abu-Jamal:"The United States is Fast Becoming One of the Biggest Open-Air Prisons on Earth"
Person in white shirt with dreadlocks sitting at a desk with an American flag and poster in the background.
DEMOCRACY NOW, Podcast
00:12:03
Content
He introduces readers to the work of over 40 jailhouse lawyers and criticizes the US legal system.
Person holding a sign with the word "INNOCENT" above censored artwork.
Black and white graphic of a figure with dreadlocks and the text "FREE MUMIA" below.
People holding a "FREE MUMIA" banner at a public demonstration.
2012

esteen cases

          As an Offender Counselor (i.e., jailhouse lawyer) at Angola to help his peers, Dr. Eric Denet authors the petition that leads to the momentous decision in State ex rel. Esteen v. State of Louisiana.
Case
[State ex rel. Esteen vs. State of Louisiana]
During his 27 years of incarceration, 15 of which he spent as an Offender Counselor, Dr. Denet authored hundreds of cases and even made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. Beyond representing his peers in court, Dr. Denet worked with non-profits and attorneys (most of whom did not credit his work) and earned a PhD in Religion, a doctorate in Theology, a doctorate in Christian Education, and an honorary doctorate in Divinity.
              In 2018, the Louisiana Supreme Court finally rules that district judges can reduce the prison time of incarcerated people who received life or extremely long sentences under old drug and multiple offender laws.
Decision
Since the ruling, dozens, if not more, "Esteen cases" have led to the release or sentence reductions of people convicted under the old laws.
2016

Welch v. United States

In a rare occurrence, the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to review pro se litigant Gregory Welch’s petition immediately, and rules in his favor in Welch v. United States.
          The Court holds that its landmark substantive rule in Johnson v. United States, which found the residual clause of the Armed Career Criminal Act unconstitutionally vague, must be applied retroactively.
Case
A handgun lying on a textured surface with a reddish overlay.
ORAL ARGUMENT, MAR 30, '16
00:12:03
Welch has opened the doors for people incarcerated in federal prisons to qualify for shorter sentences or even release.
2017

mail photocopying

New policy
Arkansas is the first state to adopt a policy of photocopying mail and withholding originals from 
their incarcerated recipients.
arkansas
                 Prison officials claim such policies prevent drugs from entering facilities by being sprayed on mail, but this is a largely unsupported claim. In recent years, dozens of state
and federal facilities have adopted similar policies.
Precaution
2018

The Jailhouse 
Lawyer Initiative

Jhody Polk
The Jailhouse Lawyer Initiative (JLI) logo
The Jailhouse Lawyer Initiative is founded by former jailhouse lawyer and 2018 Soros Fellow, Jhody Polk. The JLI invests in jailhouse lawyers to end the cycle of incarceration and is housed at NYU School of Law’s Bernstein Institute for Human Rights.
2020

“free” tablets

Person playing a mahjong game on a tablet with green overlay.
Digital supply
The number of tablets in prisons and jails passes half a million. Tablets were first introduced in 2012 and were first provided to some people in prison with no upfront costs in 2019.
A clear tablet with a blue screen displaying various application icons.
But free tablets are still costly, charging users for phone calls, video chats, media, and emails.

FLASHLIGHTS

we are jailhouse lawyers
The Jailhouse Lawyers Initiative (JLI) and Zealous collaborated on this public education and advocacy project to raise the visibility of jailhouse lawyers as human rights defenders and push for policy changes identified by these community justice advocates.
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