Prison Litigation Reform Act
Encyclopedia
The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) is a U.S. federal law that was enacted in 1996. Congress enacted PLRA in response to a significant increase in prisoner litigation in the federal courts; the PLRA was designed to help unclog the court system from this litigation.
For the preceding 20 – 30 years, many prisons and jails in the United States had been enjoined to make certain changes based on findings that the conditions of these institutions violated the constitutional rights of inmates (in particular, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment or the right to due process). Many of these injunctions came as a result of consent decrees entered into between inmates and prison officials and endorsed by federal courts, so that relief was not necessarily tied to violations found. Many state officials and members of Congress had complained of the breadth of relief granted by federal judges, as these injunctions often required expensive remedial actions.
The PLRA was designed to curb the discretion of the federal courts in these types of actions. Thus, the central requirement of the act was a provision that a court “shall not grant or approve any prospective relief unless the court finds that such relief is narrowly drawn, extends no further than necessary to correct the violation of the Federal right, and is the least intrusive means necessary to correct the violation of the Federal right.”
In Miller v. French, 530 U.S. 327 (2000), inmates attacked the constitutionality of the “automatic stay” provision, as a violation of separation of powers. By a 5-to-4 vote, the Supreme Court reversed. The Court held that the PLRA did not set aside a final judgment of a federal court, but rather it operated to change the underlying law and thus required the altering of the prospective relief issued under the old law. Secondly, the Court noted that separation of powers did not prevent Congress from changing applicable law and then imposing the consequences of the court’s application of the new legal standard. Finally, the Court held that the stay provision did not interfere with core judicial functions as it could not be determined whether the time limitations interfered with judicial
functions through its relative brevity. )On the other hand, if the time limits interfered with the inmates’ meaningful opportunity to be heard, that would be a due process problem. Ibid., at 350. Since the decision below had been based on separation of powers, the due process argument was not before the Court. Thus, the constitutionality of the PLRA overall, and of the “automatic stay” in particular, is as yet undetermined, although the Court’s opinion seems disposed to a measure of acceptance.)
The exhaustion requirement was the subject of a Supreme Court case, Jones v. Bock
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For the preceding 20 – 30 years, many prisons and jails in the United States had been enjoined to make certain changes based on findings that the conditions of these institutions violated the constitutional rights of inmates (in particular, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment or the right to due process). Many of these injunctions came as a result of consent decrees entered into between inmates and prison officials and endorsed by federal courts, so that relief was not necessarily tied to violations found. Many state officials and members of Congress had complained of the breadth of relief granted by federal judges, as these injunctions often required expensive remedial actions.
The PLRA was designed to curb the discretion of the federal courts in these types of actions. Thus, the central requirement of the act was a provision that a court “shall not grant or approve any prospective relief unless the court finds that such relief is narrowly drawn, extends no further than necessary to correct the violation of the Federal right, and is the least intrusive means necessary to correct the violation of the Federal right.”
"Automatic stay" section
The most pointed provision of the PLRA in this context is the so-called “automatic stay” section, which states that a motion to terminate prospective relief “shall operate as a stay” of that relief during the period beginning 30 days after the filing of the motion (extendable to up to 90 days for “good cause”) and ending when the court rules on the motion.In Miller v. French, 530 U.S. 327 (2000), inmates attacked the constitutionality of the “automatic stay” provision, as a violation of separation of powers. By a 5-to-4 vote, the Supreme Court reversed. The Court held that the PLRA did not set aside a final judgment of a federal court, but rather it operated to change the underlying law and thus required the altering of the prospective relief issued under the old law. Secondly, the Court noted that separation of powers did not prevent Congress from changing applicable law and then imposing the consequences of the court’s application of the new legal standard. Finally, the Court held that the stay provision did not interfere with core judicial functions as it could not be determined whether the time limitations interfered with judicial
functions through its relative brevity. )On the other hand, if the time limits interfered with the inmates’ meaningful opportunity to be heard, that would be a due process problem. Ibid., at 350. Since the decision below had been based on separation of powers, the due process argument was not before the Court. Thus, the constitutionality of the PLRA overall, and of the “automatic stay” in particular, is as yet undetermined, although the Court’s opinion seems disposed to a measure of acceptance.)
Exhaustion requirement
Another way Congress tried to curb prison litigation was by setting up an “exhaustion” requirement. Before prisoners may challenge a condition of their confinement in federal court, the PLRA requires them to first exhaust available administrative remedies by pursuing to completion whatever inmate grievance and/or appeal procedures their prison custodians provide:-
- No action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, or any other Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted. 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a).
The exhaustion requirement was the subject of a Supreme Court case, Jones v. Bock
Jones v. Bock
Jones v. Bock, , was a case before the United States Supreme Court.- Background :Congress passed the Prison Litigation Reform Act to help reduce the strain on the federal judicial system of extensive inmate litigation...
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