Prison Litigation Reform Act

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the intention of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) was to limit the number of frivolous lawsuits that could be filed by prisoners in federal courts; however, the constitutionality of this law has been strongly debated. The author points out that a primary provision of PLRA is the exhaustion requirement, which fundamentally was designed to give prison officials time and opportunity to address any grievances that could be brought by prisoners before a federal court, even if those internal systems are slow and ineffective and may subject the prisoner to possible retaliation by prison staff. The paper relates that the PLRA places a cap on attorney fees and restricts the number of billable hours; thus, since they will have difficulty obtaining compensation for their work, attorneys are discouraged from representing prisoners even if they have a strong case.

From the Paper:

"When the administrative grievance process is followed in the manner prescribed in the PLRA, that process is able to fully identify details of the prisoner's case and determine its merits before it reaches a federal court. Once in court, there is a much greater likelihood that the case would be more well defined and presented in a concise manner. The court would then be able to focus solely on issues at hand instead of being forced to spend time attempting to interpret a potentially muddled argument. Under these circumstances, it would appear that federal courts would have more time available to address legitimate cases brought under the PLRA."

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