Growing up, my parents always taught my sister and me that the measure of a just and fair society is how it treats those who are most vulnerable or at the margins - surely the 2.3 million people serving time in America's ever increasingly populated and overcrowded prisons and jails qualify.
April 24th is the 12th anniversary of the Prison Litigation Reform Act, an important day far too few of us will even be aware of. At the time PLRA was passed, Congress felt the need to try and stem the tide of "frivolous" lawsuits being filed by prisoners over trivial issues like supplies of chunky vs. creamy peanut butter. (While often cited as an example by proponents of the law, no such lawsuit was ever filed).
In practice, after more than a decade on the books, the PLRA has effectively closed the courthouse doors on prisoners seeking a fair hearing on violations of their religious, due process, free speech, and other fundamental constitutional rights, as well as cases of serious physical and sexual abuse - hardly trivial matters. Surely blocking these types of lawsuits could not have been what Congress intended.
There are two major problems with the PLRA. The first is a very narrow definition of what constitutes "physical injury." For example, a man was forced to stand in a two-and-a-half foot square cage for twelve hours, ten of which he was naked and in tremendous pain due to leg injuries from a previous accident exacerbated by the prolonged standing. Despite visible swelling in his leg, his repeated requests for a doctor were all denied. A court later found that the his suffering failed to rise to the level of physical injury required under the PLRA - talk about a John Yoo approach to prison abuses!
The second problem is the rigid requirement that prisoners wishing to bring a suit must first navigate and exhaust the prison's own administrative grievance procedures, which can often be a baffling maze. Any mistake along the way by individuals who are too often mentally ill, barely literate, physically incapacitated, or children will forever bar even the most meritorious claims from moving forward.
In one case, the lawsuit of a young boy who corrections staff allowed to be raped and repeatedly assaulted while in detention was thrown out because he never filed a formal grievance, even though he feared further abuse if he reported the incident, and even though his mother repeatedly contacted prison and juvenile court officials to try to get them to stop the abuse. Again, Congress could not have had examples like this in mind when it passed the PLRA in 1996.
We will likely find out soon enough. Congress is holding a hearing today on a piece of legislation that would make necessary and desperately needed reforms to the PLRA - H.R. 4109, the Prison Abuse Remedies Act. The ACLU strongly supports this legislation to make sure that prisoners who experience serious abuses or violations of their fundamental constitutional rights are given their day in court. Please email your members of Congress and urge them to co-sponsor and support H.R. 4109 today.
You can learn more about the PLRA here.
It is so rare to find Congress considering positive prison reform legislation, don't let the opportunity to add your voice slip you by. The just and fair society we are always striving for demands our action.
