Why Must the Prisoner Litigation Reform Act Be Fixed?
Physical Injury Requirement: Under the PLRA, prisoners can be raped and sexually assaulted
and not have access to the range of remedies available to most civil rights plaintiffs because some courts say they’ve suffered no “physical injury.” Other forms of cruel and unusual punishment, such as grossly unsanitary conditions and cavalier disregard of prisoners’ medical needs, also do not meet the “physical injury” requirement for such claims.
• Physical Injury Requirement: Many constitutional violations do not result in physical injuries. As a result of the PLRA’s “physical injury” requirement, courts, for example, often deny prisoners remedies for violations of their First Amendment rights to freedom of religion.
• Exhaustion Requirement: The PLRA’s exhaustion provisions require prisoners to exhaust their
facilities’ grievance process no matter how legitimate the reasons for failing to follow grievance procedures might be.
Click here to read more at Save Coalition
1 comment:
Stephen B. Bright, President of the Southern Center for Human Rights, recently testified on the need for PLRA reform to the Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security Subcommittee. If you're interested, I posted about it - and my own thoughts on PLRA reform - here:
http://prisonblawg.blogspot.com/2008/04/plra-exhaustion-requirement-reform.html
The administrative remedies exhaustion requirement either needs to be amended or grievance procedures need to be seriously improved.
Post a Comment