Legal resources for people in prison in California

Prison Law Office

General Delivery

San Quentin, CA 94964

http://www.prisonlaw.com


Serves: CA


Focus area/description: The Prison Law Office provides free legal services to people in California state prisons and county jails, and occasionally to people on California state parole. Assistance is generally limited to cases regarding conditions of confinement. Further, the office does not typically assist or represent people in lawsuits in which money damages are the primary objective. Instead, the office focuses on cases in which a change in conditions is sought. The office attempts to resolve such cases informally, if possible (by advocating to prison officials), or through formal litigation. With regard to condition of confinement matters, the decision to assist with any particular case depends on the issue or problem presented, the chance of success, the amount of time and resource necessary to properly assist, the office's resources, staff availability and caseload. The Prison Law Office publishes and periodically updates The California State Prisoners Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Prison and Parole Law. Click here for Ordering Information. The Prison Law Office is also happy to provide self-help and informational materials, some of which are published on their website, including a habeas corpus manual, parolee rights manual, and personal injury lawsuit packet, as well as material regarding administrative remedies, divorce, guard brutality, immigration, loss of personal property, plea bargains, release dates, workers' compensation, and worktime credits. If you or a family member believe the Prison Law Office can assist with one of the above issues, please feel free to contact their office. Letters concerning individuals and prison conditions can be addressed to: Prison Law Office General Delivery San Quentin, CA 94964. Due to the large number of inquiries, the Prison Law Office cannot accept telephone calls.

Prison Law Office confirmed this listing on July 13, 2023.


These national self-help guides may be useful to people in prison in California:

The Jailhouse Lawyers Manual is a free guide to legal rights and procedures designed for people in prison. It contains nine sections designed to help incarcerated people learn about their rights, file lawsuits in both state and federal court, attack their conviction or sentence, and address the conditions of their imprisonment. It also contains information about the rights of incarcerated people related to health, safety, religious freedom, and more. We suggest accessing the online version of the manual and mailing the relevant chapters to your incarcerated loved one.

The Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook is a free resource for people in prison who want to file a federal lawsuit addressing poor conditions in prison or abuse by prison staff. This guide will not help challenge convictions or sentences or provide guidance on actions in state courts. It also has 14 appendices that provide sample complaints, legal forms, and guidance on how to reach out to journalists, among other topics. You can download relevant chapters of the handbook and mail them to your incarcerated loved one or request to have a copy mailed to them.

A challenge to our colleagues:

We built the internet's first always-up-to-date list of legal services for incarcerated people. Can you make a similar list for a different kind of resource?

Problem: There are too many outdated resource lists floating around.

Our Solution: Have one resource list that one organization checks each year.

Our Method: Inspired by the Cincinnati Books for Prisoners group, we made a list of every legal services organization on every resource list we could find. Then we send a letter by snail mail to each organization each year asking them to confirm/update their listing. If they respond, we include them on the site for the next 365 days. All the organization needs to do is to sign the form we send them and mail it back in the enclosed envelope. If they don't respond, we keep them on our mailing list and try again next year.

This way, any incarcerated person using the list can be assured that the organization they are writing to recently did exist and was responding to mail. And if an organization fails to respond for some reason (staff turnover, postal problems, the dog ate our letter, etc.) they get another chance next year.

It's a win for everyone. We've built a database for legal services. What list can your organization edit?



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