Welcome to Prison Legal News!

Prison Legal News (PLN), a project of the non-profit Human Rights Defense Center, is a 72-page monthly magazine that reports on criminal justice issues and prison and jail-related civil litigation, with an emphasis on prisoners' rights. PLN has published continuously since 1990 and covers a wide range of topics that include prison labor, rape and sexual abuse, misconduct by prison and jail staff, prisoners' constitutional rights, racial and socioeconomic disparities in our criminal justice system, medical and mental health care for prisoners, disenfranchisement, rehabilitation and recidivism, prison privatization, prison and jail phone rates, women prisoners, the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), prison censorship, the death penalty, HIV and hep C, solitary confinement and control units, and much more.

In 2013, PLN received the First Amendment Award from the Society of Professional Journalists.

This website includes all of PLN's articles published since 1990 plus thousands of other articles, case reports, publications and pleadings.

To search PLN's articles and other content, click "Search Content" on the top menu bar. For recent news articles that mention PLN and the Human Rights Defense Center or quote PLN staff, click "In the News" (which also includes our press releases). For our litigation project, which tracks our First Amendment lawsuits, public records cases and other legal actions, click "Litigation."

PLN's monthly magazine is a subscription publication. We have thousands of subscribers nationwide, and around 65-70% are incarcerated. We also offer website subscriptions that provide full access to all content on our website (most of our news content is free, but a subscription is required to access some of our legal content). For subscription options and fees, please click on "Subscribe" on the menu bar.

PLN also distributes a number of criminal justice, legal and self-help books through our Book Store. Plus we do much more -- for a better understanding of everything we do, please review our Annual Reports (also available under the "About" tab).

Sample PLN Issues

April, 2016 2016-4

March, 2016 2016-3

February, 2016 2016-2

January, 2016 2016-1

December, 2015 2015-12

November, 2015 2015-11

More issues

Visit PLN's Book Store!

Recent PLN Articles

Jailhouse Medicine - A Private Contractor Flourishes Despite Controversy Over Prisoner Deaths

Loaded on April 1, 2016 published in Prison Legal News April, 2016, page 1

Filed under: California Forensic Medical Group, Contractor Misconduct, Systemic Medical Neglect, Private Contractors, Failure to Treat, Medical Neglect/Malpractice. Location: California.

Jailhouse Medicine - A Private Contractor Flourishes Despite Controversy Over Prisoner Deaths

by Brian Joseph, FairWarning

In July 2011, a jailhouse nurse in Imperial County, California found prisoner Marsha Dau lying naked and dazed on the concrete floor. Charged with illegally transporting aliens, Dau, 58, recently had been exhibiting strange and ...

Massachusetts: Lawsuit Filed to Stop Dog Searches of Prison Visitors

Loaded on April 1, 2016 by Joe Watson published in Prison Legal News April, 2016, page 9

Filed under: Visitor Searches, Release and Reentry, Family. Location: Massachusetts.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Boston-based Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLSM) and attorney Leonard Singer filed suit against the Massachusetts Department of Correction in January 2014 to prevent prison officials from using drug-sniffing dogs to search visitors.

“Putting visitors through the humiliation of dog searches will reduce visits ...

Excited Delirium Syndrome: Medical Condition or Cover-Up?

Loaded on April 1, 2016 by David Reutter published in Prison Legal News April, 2016, page 10

Filed under: Guard Brutality/Beatings, Stun Guns/Tasers, Excessive Force (Wrongful Death).

Debate is quietly raging within the medical and law enforcement communities about a diagnosis first identified more than 160 years ago which more recently has become associated with the deaths of people in police custody, many of whom were involved in physical altercations with officers or shocked with Tasers before ...

New Mexico: Sharon Jones’s Strep Death Among Shocking Prison Tragedies in Lawsuits

Loaded on April 1, 2016 published in Prison Legal News April, 2016, page 12

Filed under: Systemic Medical Neglect, Failure to Treat, Medical Neglect/Malpractice, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness). Location: New Mexico.

by Michael Roberts, Westword

Westword recently shared video showing the jailhouse death of Michael Lee Marshall. The homeless man, who suffered from symptoms associated with paranoid schizophrenia, choked on his own vomit after being restrained by Denver, Colorado deputies in a November 2015 incident the city coroner’s office has ...

South Carolina Sheriff Resigns, Pleads Guilty to DUI

Loaded on April 1, 2016 published in Prison Legal News April, 2016, page 14

Filed under: Publications/Books, PLN Litigation, First Amendment. Location: South Carolina.

In 2012, a historic $599,000 settlement was reached between Prison Legal News and then-Berkeley County, South Carolina Sheriff Wayne DeWitt after the Berkeley County jail rejected PLN’s monthly publication and books mailed to prisoners at the facility. At the time, the jail only allowed prisoners to receive Bibles ...