Prisoner Rights Web Sites

Actual Innocence Awareness database - contains news and scholarly articles on wrongful convictions and reform efforts. Maintained by the University of Texas School of Law. This page is RSS-enabled.

American Civil Liberties Union Prisoners Assistance Directory (2008) - A guide to organizations in each state that work on prisoners' rights issues. A downloadable PDF document.

Directory of State Prison Libraries - Directory prepared by Maryland Correctional Education Libraries (Glennor Shirley). It was developed to improve communication among librarians working in state correctional libraries and to serve as a resource and networking aid. It includes names, addresses, telephone and fax numbers, email addresses, and employing agencies of librarians working in adult and juvenile correctional libraries.

The Innocence Network - An affiliation of organizations dedicated to providing pro bono legal and investigative services to individuals seeking to prove innocence of crimes for which they have been convicted and working to redress the causes of wrongful convictions. Information on the website includes: briefs on post-conviction innocence claims, a list of member organizations, and information on the annual conference.

Innocence Project - The Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, created by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld in 1992, is a non-profit legal clinic. This Project handles only cases where postconviction DNA testing of evidence can yield conclusive proof of innocence. The Project’s website has a wealth of information on the specific cases they are handling and the topic of innocence generally including:

• a list of other Innocence Projects in the US and around the world
• brief overview of causes of innocent convictions such as eyewitness misidentification, improper forensic science, false confessions, government misconduct, informants, and lawyer misconduct.
• tools for improving the system including model legislation
• amicus briefs and client filings
• audio and video archive
• state-by-state overview of exonerations, causes, and reform efforts
• Innocence Blog
• Collection of links to exoneree websites, criminal justice organizations (governmental and non-governmental), eyewitness identification resources, and DNA testing and forensic science websites.

The Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook  - This publication (download in PDF) addresses “how to bring a federal lawsuit to challenge violations of your rights in prison.” This is published with the support of the Center for Constitutional Rights, the National Lawyers Guild and the Columbia Human Rights Review.

The Other Side of the Wall - California Prison Law Page

Prison Activist Resource Center (PARC) - Source for progressive and radical information on prisons and the criminal prosecution system.

Prisoner Rights Resources - by Margaret Moreland at Pace Law School.

Prisoners’ Rights – This overview of prisons and prisoners’ rights information from the Cornell Legal Information Institute includes federal and state information as well as links to additional websites.

Prisoners’ Rights Organizations – a list of non-profit organizations focused on prisoners’ rights issues, maintained by the Chicago Kent College of Law.

Resources for Managing Habeas Corpus Review of Capital Convictions – from the Federal Judicial Center. This 32-page document covers management of cases involving federal habeas corpus review of state and federal capital convictions. It provides a summary of relevant law and case-management procedures used by federal courts in these cases. Appendices to the guide include case-management plans, general procedure orders, budgeting forms, scheduling orders, other forms, and a list of additional resources.

U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics - Statistics about crime and victims, criminal offenders, law enforcement, courts and sentencing, etc.

Wrongful Conviction and Innocence Resources on the Internet - by Ken Strutin (at LLRX).

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Last updated 28 September 2009