Washington, DC Prisoner Civil Rights Lawyers

What Other Civil Rights Do Prisoners Have?

Inmates have many rights and protections under the First Amendment. Some of these First Amendment rights are:

• The right to practice religion. The First Amendment protects a prisoner’s right to practice the religion of their choice. This protection has been reinforced through the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). Under this Act, a prison cannot burden a prisoner’s exercise of religion unless it can prove that it has a compelling interest that it cannot accomplish through any other means.
• Free speech. Prisoners have a right to send and receive mail, subject to safety concerns. Prisoners also have the right to voice their concerns and the right to access the court system.

What Basic Civil Rights do Prisoners Not Have?

Though prisoners retain many basic human rights, they do lose the privilege of other rights. A couple of the rights that inmates do not have are:

• The right to privacy. The main right that prisoners lose is the right to privacy. Corrections officers need the ability to observe inmates for safety reasons and to maintain control. Inmates and their cells may be searched at any time.
• The right to be paid a minimum wage. Inmates can be given jobs in work-release programs, but they do not have the right to be paid a minimum wage. Prisoners aren’t subject to normal employment laws.

What Are Some of the Types of Prisoner Litigation Lawsuits?

Prison litigation is a very broad area and there are many different types of prisoner civil rights lawsuits. Some of the most common are:

• Conditions of confinement. Prisoners can sue for the conditions of their confinement. Prison officials must provide inmates with adequate food, clothing, shelter, and sanitation.
• Deliberate indifference to medical and disability rights. Prison staff violates prisoners’ rights when they ignore valid medical needs and the needs of disabled inmates. A common situation that happens in prison is that prisoners are denied their medication. Inmates with diagnosed medical conditions who are denied their medicine may have a lawsuit. Another situation where this civil rights violation often happens in jail suicides. Suicide is the leading cause of death among inmates, according to a Bureau of Justice Report. If an inmate is known to have suicidal tendencies and a staff member fails to act, this could be a civil rights violation.
• Prisoner on prisoner violence. These violence claims stem from prison officials’ indifference to risks of harm to prisoners, such as housing a known violent inmate or with an inmate with predilections toward sexual violence.
• Use of force. Unfortunately, many prisoners fall victim to excessive use of force by correctional staff. All prisoners have the right to be free from the use of excessive force, and violation of this right can lead to a lawsuit.
• Physical or sexual assault. Assault by staff members is a common complaint among prisoners. In a 2010 study, it was found that 21% of the inmates who participated in the study reported being physically assaulted by a staff member and nearly 2% claimed to have been sexually assaulted by a staff member.
• Wrongful conviction. A conviction can be wrongful for several reasons. The convicted person may be innocent of the charges or there may have been procedural errors that violated that person’s rights. Either way, this will result in a lawsuit.

How Do I Pursue a Prison Litigation Lawsuit?

The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) of 1996 requires that prisoners “exhaust administrative remedies” before they can bring a lawsuit in court. This Act was based on the growing number of prisoner lawsuits and provided a way to ensure that prisoners had followed all prison grievance procedures for voicing their complaints before filing a lawsuit in the court system.

The United States Supreme Court explained in Jones v. Brock, a 2007 case, what this “exhaustion of administrative remedies” requirement in the PLRA meant. In the Jones case, Jones was injured while in police custody. He later could not perform tasks assigned to him in prison due to the injury. Jones’ attempts to work aggravated his injury and he unsuccessfully filed a grievance under the prison grievance process of his state. Jones then sued in federal District Court for deliberate indifference to his medical needs. The District Court dismissed his case because they said Jones did not show that he had exhausted his remedies. The U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal. Jones then appealed again to the United States Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court reversed the lower courts and held that the “exhaustion of remedies” requirement is met when prisoners have complied with the prison grievance process. This means that the rules for exhaustion are not in the PLRA itself but each system’s grievance procedures. The method of the grievance procedures is different from prison system to prison system and from claim to claim, but as long as the prison’s requirements for grievances have been met, the prisoner is said to have “exhausted their administrative remedies” and can then file a lawsuit in the court system.

How Will the Court Review My Claim?

It is also important to know that courts will be deferential to prison staff when it comes to prison rights. This means that generally, as long as the conditions of confinement satisfy the minimum standards and appear to not violate the prisoners’ constitutional rights, courts prefer not to interfere.

When Courts analyze constitutional rights violations, they use different levels of scrutiny depending on the right.

• Strict scrutiny. Violations of civil rights or constitutional rights often require the highest form of judicial review, which is called strict scrutiny. This means that the law or action that allegedly deprived someone of a right is reviewed strictly and the law or action will only stand if it served a “compelling government interest” and was “narrowly tailored” to serve that interest. More simply, this means that the law or action that took a right must have done it for a really good reason and the taking of the right must have been the only way to do it. Strict scrutiny is good for plaintiffs alleging violations of their rights and bad for defendants who allegedly took the right.
• Rational basis review. However, for prisoner civil rights cases, courts use the lowest form of scrutiny, called rational basis, to decide if a right was violated. Under this easier test, the law or action will stand if it served only a “legitimate” government interest and was only rationally related to that interest. This is the other end of the spectrum from strict scrutiny and means that it is much easier for the law or action that took the right to be considered justified. Rational basis, as compared with strict scrutiny, is bad for plaintiffs alleging violations of their rights and good for the defendants who allegedly took the right.

Why Choose Regan Zambri Long for Your Prisoner Civil Rights Violations?

Have you or someone you care about been mistreated while imprisoned? Have your basic rights as a prisoner been violated?

Prison litigation is complicated and requires an intimate knowledge of constitutional law. Prisoner litigation claims also require a broad knowledge of other laws, like underlying state laws for negligence or medical malpractice. Additionally, it is crucial to have a good prisoner rights lawyer for your prison litigation case because courts defer to prison officials. An experienced prison litigation attorney will know how to build and argue your case. Call today to schedule a free consultation.