NCJ Number
166561
Journal
Corrections Compendium Volume: 22 Issue: 1 Dated: (January 1997) Pages: 1-8
Date Published
1997
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Content analysis was employed to examine issues and trends related to jail litigation, and the analysis spanned a 25-year period from 1970 to 1994; only jail prisoner cases involving Title 42 of the U.S. Code, Section 1983, were used.
Abstract
Of 12,531 Section 1983 cases decided during the study period, 1,546 were reviewed. The analysis focused on cases in which jail prisoners prevailed, relief and monetary awards received by jail prisoners, fees awarded to attorneys, cases in which correctional officials prevailed, cases jail prisoners historically brought against correctional officials, and longitudinal patterns of cases. Classifying all jail prisoner cases into 5-year time periods revealed general longitudinal patterns of prevailing parties. Between 1970 and 1974, jail prisoners won 74 percent of cases. This percentage steadily declined in subsequent years to 39 percent for the 1991-1994 period. During the entire study period, correctional officials prevailed in 44 percent of cases. Jail prisoners filed Section 1983 claims against correctional officials in such areas as medical care, mental health, failure to protect, administrative liability, access to courts, use of force, conditions of confinement, searches, discipline, and facilities. Equitable relief was awarded in about 84 percent of cases and monetary damages were awarded in about 16 percent of cases won by jail prisoners. Compensation awards ranged from $1,500 to $1.2 million and averaged $20,000. Punitive damages ranged from $100 to $289,000. Overall, the analysis revealed a substantial and continued increase in the volume of jail prisoner litigation. 48 references and 3 tables