Prisoners' Self Help Litigation Manual

Prisoners' Self-Help Litigation Manual, in its much-anticipated fourth edition, is an indispensable guide for prisoners and prisoner advocates seeking to understand the rights guaranteed to prisoners by law and how to protect those rights. Clear, comprehensive, practical advice provides prisoners with everything they need to know on conditions of confinement, civil liberties in prison, procedural due process, the legal system, how to litigate, conducting effective legal research, and writing legal documents. Over the past decade, prison law and conditions have changed significantly. This new edition is updated to include the most relevant prisoners' rights topics and approaches to litigation. Updates include all aspects of prison life as well as material on legal research, legal writing, types of legal remedies, and how to effectively use those remedies. This book succeeds the highly successful third edition of Prisoners' Self-Help Litigation Manual. Written by two legal and penitentiary experts with intimate knowledge of prisoner's rights and legal aid work, authors John Boston and Daniel E. Manville strategically focus on federal constitutional law, providing prisoners and those wishing to assist them with the most important information concerning legal rights. To litigate effectively, several features of the book are designed to make finding information easy. A detailed Table of Contents and Index make for effortless access to specific information within the chapters, which are conveniently divided into smaller sections and subsections. Each page contains Footnotes with authoritative case citations, statutory references, and other necessary information. Additionally, the manual provides a Table of Cases, Forms, Sources of Assistance and other books and publications to further aid research. Certainly the most authoritative, well-organized and relevant prisoner's rights manual available - - the eagerly awaited fourth edition should be purchased by everyone interested in civil rights for the incarcerated.

Personal Statement ; Table of Cases ; Preface and Acknowledgments ; I. Introduction: Using this Manual and Using the Courts ; Part I: The Rights of Prisoners ; II. Conditions of Confinement ; III. Civil Liberties in Prison ; IV. Procedural Due Process ; V. Equal Protection of the Laws ; VI. Pre-Trial Detainee's Rights ; Part II: Enforcing Your Rights ; VII. The Legal System ; VII. Actions, Defenses, and Relief ; IX. How to Litigate ; X. Legal Research ; XI. Writing Legal Documents