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The Fundamental Right of Self-Defense in Prison
Loaded on Nov. 15, 1996
by Robert F Nelson
published in Prison Legal News
November, 1996, page 1
by Robert F. Nelson
Filed under:
Disciplinary Hearings,
Legality of Rules,
Failure to Protect (General),
Habeas Corpus.
Location:
United States of America.
[Editor's Note: In 1994 the court of appeals for the seventh circuit decided Rowe v. DeBruyn, 17 F.3d 1047 (7th Cir. 1994) which held that an Indiana state prisoner had no constitutional right to self-defense in prison. The case arose after the plaintiff was infracted and …
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More from this issue:
- The Fundamental Right of Self-Defense in Prison, by Robert F Nelson
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- The Pelican Bay Factor, by Abdul Olugbala Shakur
- Notes from the Unrepenitentiary, by Laura Whitehorn
- Prison Tragedy Results in Settlement
- Overview, by National Prison Project
- Filing Fee Requirement Not Retroactive
- Louisiana Prison System Back Under Court Supervision
- PLRA Applied Retroactively to Filing Fees
- 2nd Circuit Applies PLRA to IFP Litigants
- Prior Frivolous Suits Count for PLRA
- PLRA Application to Mandamus Discussed
- PLRA Filing Fees Don't Apply to Habeas Petitions
- Three Strikes Applied
- A Matter of Fact
- Criminal Injustice: Confronting the Prison Crisis, by Daniel Burton-Rose
- State Moves to Lift Federal Court Order at Washington State Penitentiary, by David C Fathi
- Eight Corcoran Guards Fired, Five Reinstated
- Ohio "Eases" Prison Overcrowding
- Prison Labor and Private Profit, by Adrian Lomax
- WSR Smoking Suit Settled
- In Harms' Way: Texas Prisoner Shot
- Texas Taxes Spent on DCJ Luxuries
- Criminal Prosecutors Get Their Day In Court
- Publisher Entitled to Notice of Magazine Censorship
- Gas Chamber Found Unconstitutional
- Disciplinary Records Inadmissible Evidence
- No Right to Unmonitored Prison Calls
- Macing and Restraints State Eighth Amendment Claim
- Satanist Claim Goes to Trial
- Nevada Prisoners Have Liberty Interest in Disciplinary Hearings
- News in Brief
- Guard Caught Holding the Knife
More from Robert F Nelson:
- The Fundamental Right of Self-Defense in Prison, Nov. 15, 1996
More from these topics:
- California Appeals Court Holds Defendant Cannot Be Penalized for Failing to Appear at Sentencing When He Was Being Held in Another County’s Jail on Preexisting Charges, July 1, 2026. Disciplinary Hearings, Due Process, Procedural Default/Error, Evidence - Admissibility, Plea Agreements/Guilty Pleas.
- Multiple Detainees Escape from Dilapidated North Carolina Jail, July 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Failure to Protect (General), Overcrowding, Staffing, Jail Specific, Security Systems, Criminal Justice, Prison Conditions.
- Video Shows Guards Watched as Oklahoma Detainee Died in Cell, July 1, 2026. Corrections Corporation of America/CoreCivic, Contractor Misconduct, Guard Misconduct, Failure to Protect (General), Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death).
- Eighth Circuit Dismisses Federal Prisoner’s Challenge to BOP Denying His Request for Expedited Transfer to Prerelease Custody, June 1, 2026. Release and Reentry, Habeas Corpus, First Step Act, Community Confinement/Home Detention, Credits.
- Washington State Supreme Court Ruling Supports Broad Immunity in Overdose Cases, June 1, 2026. Drug Overdose, Failure to Protect (General), Defenses, Immunity/Liability, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death).
- California Pays $15,000 to State Prisoner Who Claimed He Was Targeted by Guards, June 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Snitch Jacketing, Failure to Protect (General), Summary Judgment, Settlements.
- Fourth Circuit Revives North Carolina Prisoner’s Suit Blaming Lazy Guards for Assault by Detainee, May 1, 2026. Failure to Protect (General), Qualified Immunity, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Deliberate Indifference.
- $1.25 Million Paid for Special Needs Teen’s Fatal Beating in Houston Jail, May 1, 2026. Prisoner-Prisoner Assault, Failure to Protect (General), Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
- Seventh Circuit Upholds Liability but Reverses Damages in Lawsuit Over Illinois Warden and Investigator Using Prisoner as Bait to Catch Staff Member Raping Her, May 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Failure to Protect (General), Damages, Evidentiary Ruling, Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
- “Large Fight” Broke Out at Alaska Prison After Downsizing Effort, April 1, 2026. Transfers, Cost of Prison Systems, Totality of Conditions, Failure to Protect (General), Overcrowding.

