Prison and Jail Law Libraries: Where Do We Go from Here?

Cacho, Mark S., Corrections Today

Correctional administrators have battled for decades on how to uphold an inmate's constitutional right to access the courts while, at the same time, being fiscally efficient in providing access to some type of law library service. Traditionally, the inmate welfare fund has satisfied this expenditure. However, privatization of inmate commissary stores across the country has altered from where the resources to pay for law library services come. To complicate matters, in 1996, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a landmark decision in Lewis v. Casey. In that decision, the justices revisited the "meaningful access to the courts" requirement established in their prior decision in Bounds v. Smith. The court held that an inmate must show actual injury from the lack of access to the courts or law libraries in order to have standing …

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Publication information: Article title: Prison and Jail Law Libraries: Where Do We Go from Here?. Contributors: Cacho, Mark S. - Author. Magazine title: Corrections Today. Volume: 65. Issue: 4 Publication date: July 2003. Page number: 15+. © 2009 American Correctional Association, Inc. COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group.

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