×
You've used up your 3 free articles for this month. Subscribe today.
Lessons From the Law
by Mumia Abu Jamal
For many jailhouse lawyers, the texts of court rulings are read with a close and rapt attention that would be the envy of any conscientious law professor. The writer knows one guy, who, after years of study of criminal law cases, can recite from sheer memory, …
For many jailhouse lawyers, the texts of court rulings are read with a close and rapt attention that would be the envy of any conscientious law professor. The writer knows one guy, who, after years of study of criminal law cases, can recite from sheer memory, …
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:
- Boot Camp or Boot Hill? Troubled Teens Suffer From Too Much Tough Love, by Roger Hummel
- Audit Shows Folsom Prison Mismanaged, by Gary Hunter
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- From the Editor, by Willie Wisely
- Sixth Circuit Rules PLRA 150% Fee Cap Constitutional
- California Prisoners Remanded to Jail for Resentencing Do Not Accrue Jail Behavior Credits
- California Prisoner Gets New Heart, by Gary Hunter
- BOP Prisoner Awarded $900 in Van Accident
- 7-up To Pull TV Ad Under Pressure from Human Rights Groups
- Lessons From the Law, by Mumia Abu-Jamal
- The High Cost of Prosecuting Capital Crimes
- Girls Sue Alabama Juvenile Prison for Abuse
- CYA Suit Alleges Abuse of Juveniles, by Anne Mania
- U.S. Supreme Court: No Death Penalty for Retarded; Juries Must Impose Death Sentence, by David Zuckerman
- PLRA Allows California Religious Preliminary Injunction, by David Reutter
- Georgia Prison Guards Caught in Bondage Videos
- Connecticut Retroactive Application of 85% Rule Violates Ex-Post Facto
- Then They Came for the Lawyers: The Persecution of Lynne Stewart
- Supreme Court: "Reasonable Attempt" Suffices Absent Actual Notice of Forfeiture, by John E Dannenberg
- 9-11 Prompts New Regulations for Prisoner Airline Transports
- Washington Prisoners Sue DOC for Extortion, Mail Fraud, Criminal Profiteering and Racketeering
- Louisiana's Administrative Remedy Procedure Unconstitutional
- Hemorrhoids: A Serious Medical Condition
- Massachusetts Supreme Court Upholds Ban on Prisoner PAC
- Multiple Prisoners Proceeding IFP Must Pay Separate Filing Fees
- Ohio District Court Grants TRO on Grooming Regulations
- Disputed Material Facts in Failure to Protect Suit Preclude Interlocutory Appellate Review
- Microsoft Demands $1.5 Million from Texas Prison System for Software Violations
- No Qualified Immunity for Guards Who Failed to Provide CPR
- $287,500 Awarded in Texas Jail Rape
- Florida Guard's Threat of Death Requires Summary Judgment Denial
- Dental Care Denial Defeats Summary Judgment
- Washington Sex Offender Therapist Fired for Sex Related Misconduct
- News in Brief
- Death Row Prisoners Volunteer to Die
- Review: The Criminal Law Handbook, 3rd Edition
More from Mumia Abu-Jamal:
- The Lackawanna County Seven: And Then There Were Five, April 2, 2019
- The Magnificent Seven, July 2, 2018
- Prieto’s Promise: An End to Death Row?, Aug. 10, 2016
- Pollution Prison in Pennsylvania, June 3, 2015
- American “Corrections”, Aug. 15, 2011
- The Habeas Citebook: lneffective Assistance of Counsel, by Brandon Sample, Prison Legal News Publishing, 2010, pp.212 $49.95, Feb. 15, 2011
- The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander (N.Y., The New Press, 2010). 290 pages., Sept. 15, 2010
- When Courts Get it Wrong: Clark v. Beard, May 15, 2008
- Breaking the Prison Habit, Aug. 15, 2007
- Prison Legal News at 15, July 15, 2005
More from these topics:
- Alabama Barred from Executing Prisoner by Nitrogen Hypoxia, July 1, 2026. Totality of Conditions, Eighth Amendment, Death Penalty, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Wrongful Use of Force.
- Idaho Will Recruit Law Enforcement Volunteers for Firing Squad Executions, July 1, 2026. Death Penalty, Method of Execution.
- Texas Executes 600th Prisoner Since Reinstating Death Penalty in 1976, June 1, 2026. Racial Discrimination, Statistics/Trends, Death Penalty, Mental Retardation/Intellectual Disability.
- Idaho Moves Closer to Firing Squad Executions, May 1, 2026. Death Penalty, State Legislation, Method of Execution, Lethal Injection Method of Execution.
- Trump Approves Firing Squads for Federal Executions, May 1, 2026. Death Penalty, Domestic Violence, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Method of Execution, Hate Crimes.
- Texas Prisoner Declared Innocent 70 Years After Execution, March 1, 2026. Racial Discrimination, Death Penalty, False Confessions, Eyewitness Identification, Prosecutorial Misconduct.
- Dissenter Excoriates SCOTUS for Denying Certiorari in Challenge to Constitutionality of Nitrogen Hypoxia Execution, Feb. 1, 2026. Death Penalty, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Capital Punishment, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Method of Execution.
- 2025 Was a Deadly Year for Veterans Behind Bars, Jan. 1, 2026. Brain Injury, Death Penalty, Mental Health, Veterans, Mental Health Experts.
- Oklahoma Prisoner Found Unconscious in Cell Hours After Avoiding Execution, Dec. 1, 2025. Public Defenders, Pardons/Clemency, Life without Parole (LWOP), Death Penalty, Effective Assistance of Counsel.
- Missouri Blocks Spiritual Advisors from Prison Pastor’s Execution, Nov. 1, 2025. Pardons/Clemency, Death Penalty, Lethal Injection Method of Execution, Religious Freedom/Worship, Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA).

