Excellent reminder from @PrisonPolicy today that while everyone has been yelling about the fairly-defunct 94 Crime Bill, the far more consequential Prison Litigation Reform Act has been quietly eviscerating prisoners' rights for 25 years now.
prisonpolicy.org/reports/PLRA_2…
prisonpolicy.org/reports/PLRA_2…
The 94 Act is an easy target: more cash for prisons = more prisoners.
The PLRA did the same thing... just more quietly and more effectively. Make it impossible for prisoners to complain about bad conditions, and prisons become cheaper to run.
A subsidy built on cruelty.
The PLRA did the same thing... just more quietly and more effectively. Make it impossible for prisoners to complain about bad conditions, and prisons become cheaper to run.
A subsidy built on cruelty.
And unlike the 94 Crime Bill, the PLRA's rules are a lot harder to get upset about.
"They paid states cash to build prisons! That's immoral!"
That's a lot easier to rally around than:
"Prisoners have to exhaust all available state remedies before they have standing in Fed Ct!"
"They paid states cash to build prisons! That's immoral!"
That's a lot easier to rally around than:
"Prisoners have to exhaust all available state remedies before they have standing in Fed Ct!"
But its legalistic technicality exactly what makes the PLRA so deadly and effective.
Exhaustion and standing sound... too lawlike.
But CA almost won at SCOTUS (4-5) arguing the PLRA shielded them from fed litigation over conditions that were killing one person every ~10 days.
Exhaustion and standing sound... too lawlike.
But CA almost won at SCOTUS (4-5) arguing the PLRA shielded them from fed litigation over conditions that were killing one person every ~10 days.
It's critical to put that CA number in perspective.
At a time when all death rows nationwide executed ~35-40 ppl total, the abhorrent conditions in CA were killing 60.
The biggest death row in the US was CA's gen pop.
And four justices thought: no grounds to sue, due to PLRA.
At a time when all death rows nationwide executed ~35-40 ppl total, the abhorrent conditions in CA were killing 60.
The biggest death row in the US was CA's gen pop.
And four justices thought: no grounds to sue, due to PLRA.
This is one reason why I find the 94 Crime Bill debate SO infuriating.
There ARE ways the Feds matter. But not the cash part of the 94 Bill (no, really: that money did almost nothing)--it's things like fed oversight of awful prisons.
It's time to repeal the PLRA (but we won't).
There ARE ways the Feds matter. But not the cash part of the 94 Bill (no, really: that money did almost nothing)--it's things like fed oversight of awful prisons.
It's time to repeal the PLRA (but we won't).
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