NCJ Number
85242
Journal
Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review Volume: 16 Issue: 3 Dated: (Winter 1982) Pages: 735-776
Date Published
1982
Length
42 pages
Annotation
The article examines the legal issues generated by prison riots from the perspective of the lawyer, the prisoner, and the prison guard.
Abstract
Each of these actors in a prison riot has differing and often competing concerns. However, each must confront obstacles springing from a matrix of four factors: the traditional attitude of the courts toward prisons, the lawless nature of the prison riot, the doctrines governing the legal status of prisoners, and the jurisdictional rules governing lawsuits against the State and its officials. Numerous political, ethical, and legal problems limit an attorney's involvement in a prison riot. Practical limitations include the problem of access, time constraints, the threat of personal danger, and the lack of inmate cooperation. Three ethical and legal obstacles are involvement in illegal or improper conduct, withdrawal of the attorney-client privilege, and potential conflicts of interest. Issues which are likely to arise in the prison riot context include tort recovery for inmates killed or injured during a prison riot, causes of action for violations of the prisoners' constitutional rights during a riot, criminal prosecution of inmates involved in a riot, amnesty for participants in a riot and the legal effects of agreements negotiated during a riot, and prisoners' access to the media during a riot. Prison guards are protected from the uncertainty of State tort suits by Federal and State statutes that provide for some form of compensation for injuries which guards may incur during riots. The most important Federal statute is the Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA), which covers a Federal correctional officer injured in a riot. Several States cover prison guards under workers' compensation statutes, while others have specific statutes governing the compensation of correctional officers injured by inmates. A total of 205 footnotes are given.