By Sensei Pitt
From PHN Issue 56, Spring 2024
20 Steps to the Courthouse
So you think you have been wronged by the system, a corrupt corrections officer, mistreatment by other prisoners, malpractice by medical, or denial of your religious rights, and you want to sue them. Now, what’s the first thing you need to do? Start with assembling your “Tool Box.” You will need to effectively record and litigate your issues. It will look like this:
- Pencils, erasers, and black and blue ink pens
- Composition notebooks and/or writing tablets (several of them)
- Dictionary and thesaurus
- Legal dictionary
- Multi-pocket file folders
- Manila file folders
- 9 x 12 inch envelopes
- 4½ x 9 inch legal size envelopes
- The limit of stamps allowed by your facility
- Typing paper, ribbons, and correcting tape
- Prisoners’ Self-Help Litigation Manual
- Meister Manual
- United States Constitution
- Your state constitution
- PLRA (Prison Litigation Reform Act)
- RLUIPA (Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act)
- Yearly calendar with large squares
Mantra Recitations
Let’s start out with a few key mantras to memorize and practice daily as
follows:
- “If it ain’t written, it ain’t sh*t.”
- “It’s not what you think but what you can prove.”
- “Don’t procrastinate. Educate, meditate, and then litigate.”
- “Know your rights versus your wants or needs.”
- “Copy, copy, and copy everything that can prove your point of view.”
- “Read and copy all applicable DOC policies and procedures.”
- “Read and copy all applicable state and federal statutes and laws that
apply to your issues.” - “Beware the village rats; they aren’t your friends.”
- “Just the facts, Jack!”
- “Don’t write emotionally.”
- “Write three times, publish once.”
Getting Started
Now that you have decided to try to sue someone, anyone, everyone, it’s time to take stock of your position—and this is your first writing assignment. Sit down in as quiet a place as you can find. Even if you have to get up at 3 a.m. to find the quiet time, it’s time well invested and spent. Write out what your issues are; i.e., “I went to medical for pain in my stomach, and they refused to see me until I started spitting up blood and had to go to the hospital for an ulcer and almost died.”
Notice no emotion in the writing above. It’s just the facts that can be proven by your paperwork to medical, your medical files, the transport logs, and the hospital bills. Sounds simple? It’s not! Now you have to start assembling the proof of your assertions. Copy all requests you sent to medical, the floor officers, security, and anyone else you notified of your issue. Make two copies of all your paperwork, and send one out BEFORE you file anything in the courts, so you have a backup if it gets “lost” in the mail and you have to recreate it all over again.
Next, get or make a copy of your DOC grievance policy. It’s invaluable later on, when you can’t get access to the law library and want to check a screening or statement of policy, timelines to file appeals, etc.
Next, file a grievance and cite the right policy, procedure, statute, or law that applies to your issue. Here’s an example: “Pursuant to policy 8111.95 VII (B) (1) I am ‘authorized to receive books and magazines from family and friends.’ The mailroom’s confiscations of my religious magazines
denies my First Amendment free speech rights and my right to practice my religious beliefs.”
Next, file the grievance with a COPY of any paperwork that proves your point. Never, ever file the originals with any grievance because the courts will want the originals of all evidence available when you file your complaint with them.
The next step is to write out the grievance three times. Why three times? Because you need to remove the emotion from your written statement: “I think they hate me in medical because they refused to see me for days until I fell out on the yard and had to be carried to medical.” It should be: “I sent a request for medical treatment to medical and was refused until I passed out on the yard and had to be carried to medical.”
Make sure you sign and date all paperwork submitted and create a daily log of all communications you file. Keep this separate from your files, so you can follow up and appeal within all time frames in policy.
Next, make your own copy of the PLRA (Prison Litigation Reform Act) and read it, and then read it again. You MUST follow the rules of this law before you file any litigation or risk dismissal of your case at any time in the process, even after years of litigation!
Now, if you have any denials of religious rights, make a copy of the RLUIPA (Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act), then read it, then read it again. You will have to be able to cite this statute and its protections from memory throughout your litigation.
You must read and follow all DOC policies and procedures regarding the time restrictions for filing grievances and for filing all appeals. Be sure to only grieve one issue per grievance and appeal all denials through all listed levels of appeals or face dismissal when you file in court for failure to exhaust administrative remedies.
What To Do After the Grievance Fails to Resolve Your Issues
Now that you have exhausted your facility grievance process and have exhausted all levels of appeals, you’re ready for the courts! The fun begins! You will need to determine which court you wish to file in and who has subject matter jurisdiction (ask your law librarian). This can be as simple as filing state statute, constitutional, and agency policy and procedure violations that can be filed in state courts. Check your individual state.
You can find a court forms booklet in most prison law libraries, but if yours has none, you can write to the local clerk of the courts and they will send you one for free. Remember to request the form to order multiple copies of forms in case you need them in the future.
Then, you must decide if you want to pay the full filing fees up front or request to the courts for a partial or full waiver of them. You will do this with your initial complaint filing, and you’ll need to request a certified 6-month account statement from your institutional offender trust clerk for filing with the courts. Some facilities and states have a specific form for this process. Ask your prison law librarian for the form first, then try the offender trust account clerk second.
You’ll need to send a Motion for Waiver of Filing Fees with your certified account statement and the complaint at the same time, and the clerk of the court will screen it for correctness and send it on to the judge assigned to your case. The clerk will notify you when the judge is assigned and what the partial or full waiver amounts to.
The paralegal course offered through Blackstone Career Institute can give you a solid footing in any court filings.
This information is offered as a starting point for your legal journey. Please educate yourself on your own state and federal courts’ rules, statutes, and laws, and learn your rights under the document that protects them, the United States Constitution.
Happy litigation!
Prison Health News 