Restriction of Prisoners' Rights
The ACLU National Prison Project works to end unconstitutionally broad policies that unnecessarily restrict the constitutional rights of prisoners, such as censorship policies that ban many reading materials. Restricting prisoners’ core constitutional rights can have a negative impact on their ability to successfully transition back into the community.
Make a Difference
Your support helps the ACLU defend prisoners’ rights and a broad range of civil liberties.
Reports
Slamming the Courthouse Doors: Denial of Access to Justice and Remedy in America (2010 PDF): Actions of the executive, federal legislative, and judicial branches of the United States have seriously restricted access to justice for victims of civil liberties and human rights violations, and have limited the availability of effective (or, in some cases, any) remedies for these violations. Weakened judicial oversight and recent attempts to limit access to justice by attacking plaintiffs’ and defendants’ standing, discovery rights and the courts’ jurisdiction, are denying victims of human rights violations their day in court and protecting responsible officials and corporations from litigation.
Other Resources
Know Your Rights: Privileged and Non-Privileged Mail (2005 PDF): The Supreme Court has held that the First Amendment of the United States Constitution entitles prisoners to receive and send mail, subject only to the institution's right to censor letters or withhold delivery if necessary to protect institutional security, and if accompanied by appropriate procedural safeguards.
Know Your Rights: The Prison Litigation Reform Act (2009 PDF): The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) makes it harder for prisoners to file lawsuits in federal court. This fact sheet outlines the information you need to know before filing a lawsuit
Know Your Rights: Freedom of Religion (2006 PDF): Generally, beliefs that are "sincerely held" and "religious" are protected by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
ACLU Guide to the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (2011 PDF)
Sossamon v. Texas (2010 case): A case regarding whether the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, which was designed in part to protect the religious rights of prisoners, allows prisoners to sue a state for money damages when a state violates those religious rights.
Most Popular
Supreme Court Limits Ability Of Prisoners To Seek Redress For Violations Of Religious Rights (2011 press release): In April 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prisoners cannot seek monetary damages from states or state officials when their rights are violated under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, a federal law meant to protect the religious rights of prisoners.
U.S. Department Of Justice Says Jail Policy Banning All Books And Magazines Except Bible Is Unconstitutional (2011 press release)
Prisoners whose Religious Beliefs Violate Grooming Policies Released from Segregation (2010 press release)
Supreme Court Decision Overturns Draconian Limitations on Prisoner Litigation Imposed by the Sixth Circuit (2007 press release): In January 2007, The American Civil Liberties Union welcomed a unanimous Supreme Court decision striking down a series of barriers to prisoner litigation imposed by the Sixth Circuit. The decision in Jones v Bock overturned the strict requirements imposed by the Sixth Circuit in the provision of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) that mandates that prisoners “exhaust” administrative remedies.
ACLU Applauds Supreme Court Ruling Protecting Religious Liberty in Prisons (2005 press release)
