William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice
Abstract
This Note examines how the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) came to be and the consequences of its passage. The PLRA was largely a response to the growing movement of prisoners’ rights that began in the 1960s and continued until the 1990s. As the Court grew more conservative, the legal system became less receptive to prisoners’ plights. Consequently, PLRA was enacted in an effort to curtail prison litigation. Consequently, conditions in correctional institutions have continued to worsen, leaving prisoners with little recourse. Although the passage of PLRA was justified by claiming that prisoners were bringing frivolous lawsuits, the continued upward trend of custodial deaths across the country illustrates that there are still very real problems in America’s correctional institutions. Given that prisons and jails are inherently closed institutions, and shielded from the public, it is often up to the prisoner to bring light to confinement conditions. However, PLRA makes this exceedingly difficult. This Note will also examine the passage of the Deaths in Custody Reporting Act (DCRA) and how its implementation has failed.
Repository Citation
Melody Monssen, How and Why Hundreds of Preventable Deaths Continue to Occur Behind America's Prison Walls and Jail Cells, 32 Wm. & Mary J. Race, Gender, & Soc. Just. 455 (2026), https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmjowl/vol32/iss3/4Included in
Civil Rights and Discrimination Commons, Law Enforcement and Corrections Commons, Legislation Commons