×
You've used up your 3 free articles for this month. Subscribe today.
PLRA Allows Sua Sponte Dismissal
Loaded on May 15, 1997
published in Prison Legal News
May, 1997, page 9
A federal district court in Illinois held that the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) allows courts to assess filing fees and then dismiss prisoner petitions prior to service on the defendants if they fail to state a claim. Deangelo Jones is an Illinois state prisoner who protested being removed from …
Full article and associated cases available to subscribers.
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login
More from this issue:
- US Supreme Court: Oklahoma Pre-Parole Program Requires Hearing Before Removal
- California PIA Employees Lose Minimum Wage Suit
- Consent Decrees Create Enforceable Right
- Notes from the Unrepenitentiary: " Schooling the generations in the politics of prison", by Laura Whitehorn
- Matter of Fact
- Sixth Circuit Defines Legal Mail
- PLRA Codifies Injunction Standards in Conditions Case
- PLRA Applied to Released Prisoners
- Indiana Muslim Consent Decree Vacated under PLRA
- PLRA Allows Sua Sponte Dismissal
- PLRA Fee Requirements Not Applicable to Pending Suits
- PLRA Confuses Courts; Applies Only to Prisoners
- Ninth Circuit Affirms BOP Sentence Reductions
- Drug Policy as Social Control, by Noam Chomsky
- Virginia Warden Stabbed, by Dan Pens
- Should Prisoners Have the Right to Strike? Some Union Leaders Say "Yes!", by Phil Wilayto
- Texas Prisoners Get Second-Rate Doctors
- New Jersey Prison Guard Recruiting for KKK
- Update on Washington Money Seizure Suit, by Paul Wright
- Democracy, Racism and Disenfranchisement
- Reviews
- Illinois DOC Phone System Upheld
- Moors Settle with Indiana DOC
- Seventh Circuit Questions ADA Applicability to Prisons
- Disciplinary Finding Must Be Supported by Reliable Evidence
- Qualified Immunity for Infraction Suit
- No Care for STD Violates Eighth Amendment
- $1.65 Million Jury Verdict in Cell Assignment Case Affirmed
- Racial Rioting Erupts in L.A. Jail
- Mental Unhealth and Prisons, by E.D.
- Guard Tower Scam, by A.L.
- Do the Math, by E.D.
- News in Brief
- RFRA Allows Redaction of Religious Publication
- TRO Granted in DC Smoking Suit
- Washington EFV Ban Upheld
- $75,000 Jury Verdict in Prisoner Attack Affirmed
More from these topics:
- Nevada Non-Profit Founder Under Investigation for Misconduct, May 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Staff-Prisoner Harassment, Contractor Misconduct, Complaints, Restrictions, discrimination.
- Eighth Circuit Rules Iowa Prisoner’s Adverse Summary Judgment Is Not a “Strike”, March 1, 2026. Filing Fees (PLRA), Frivolous Litigation (PLRA), Summary Judgment, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness), Access To Courts.
- Fifth Circuit Upholds Dismissal of Suit by Civilly Committed Texan, Dec. 1, 2025. Sex Offenders (Discrimination), Conditions of Confinement, Complaints, Grievances, Civil Commitment.
- Eighth Circuit: Former Prisoner’s Amended Complaint Filed After Release Not Subject to PLRA Exhaustion Requirement, Dec. 1, 2025. Failure to Treat, Administrative Exhaustion (PLRA), Complaints, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Deliberate Indifference.
- Third Circuit Revives Pennsylvania Prisoner’s Claims Against the State and Wellpath, Dec. 1, 2025. Failure to Treat, Complaints, Americans with Disabilities Act, Rehabilitation Act, Deliberate Indifference.
- Louisiana Prisoner’s Mother Sues Warden Following Son’s Death, Dec. 1, 2025. Failure to Protect (General), Failure to Train/Supervise, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Protective Custody, Deliberate Indifference.
- California’s Attorney General Is Suing Los Angeles County Jails Over “Inhumane Conditions”, Nov. 1, 2025. Jail Misconduct, Totality of Conditions, Food, Overcrowding, Exposure to Cold, Plumbing, Sewage, Sanitation, Hygiene Supplies, Vermin, Exposure to Heat, Guard Brutality/Beatings, Complaints, Consent Decrees, Failure to Treat (Mental Illness).
- Sixth Circuit Clarifies What Constitutes PLRA “Strike” and Reinstates Michigan Prisoner’s Lawsuit, Nov. 1, 2025. Filing Fees (PLRA), Frivolous Litigation, Sovereign Immunity, Access To Courts.
- Ninth Circuit Springs California Prisoners from “Catch-22” Reading of PLRA, Oct. 1, 2025. Filing Fees (PLRA), Mental Health.
- Fourth Circuit Reinstates North Carolina Prisoner’s Failure-to-Protect Claim Against Guard in Stabbing, Feb. 15, 2025. Guard Misconduct, Failure to Protect (General), Protective Custody, Official Investigation.