An Examination of the Relationship Between Inmate Litigation and Institutional Characteristics

• In Event: Poster Session II

Abstract

Despite considerable change in the correctional system over the past three decades, researchers, practitioners, and policymakers know little about the current state of prisoner litigation. The purpose of this project is to examine whether facility characteristics are associated with lawsuits challenging conditions of confinement that may violate inmates’ civil rights. This study examines federal court rulings decided in 2015 by one of several United States District Courts in Texas. The facility data will come from the most recent 2005 U.S. Census of Adult State and Federal Correctional Facilities. The content of the rulings will be aggregated to the prison-level in an attempt to determine whether complaints are concentrated within facilities that share similar characteristics. The findings from our study may help prison administrators of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice identify conditions of confinement within their institutions that lead to prisoner litigation and provide researchers with an understanding of contemporary prisoner litigation.

Authors

• Jazmin Esmeralda Palacios, Sam Houston State University

• H. Daniel Butler, Sam Houston State University