Page 58 - Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice

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agreement was approved, the same lawyers filed Nunez . The parties recently stipulated to a federal consent order that has detailed and extensive implementation and monitoring provisions .60
Plata and Nunez are rare examples of systemic injunctive relief ordered by a federal court . Each case required the resources of premier prisoners’ rights legal offices and major law firms to wade through extensive discovery and motion practice . Navigating the PLRA requires skill and expertise, but the overwhelming number of prisoner lawsuits are filed and litigated pro se . Notwithstanding this evidence that serious constitutional violations continue to occur, the sharp impact of the PLRA on both filings and outcomes in prisoner litigation is beyond debate .61
Conclusion
Echoing the sentiments of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, that one can judge a civilized society by how well it treats its prisoners,62 Justice Brennan identified the “root principle” of habeas corpus as the government’s mandate to be accountable for imprisonment .63 Justice Kennedy has recently reminded us that the concept of human dignity is a guiding principle in prison conditions cases .64 The integrity of our carceral system depends on our commitment to enforce the Constitution . Serious efforts to improve access to justice must include people we have deprived of their liberty in the interest of promoting justice . •
60 Consent Judgment, Nunez v. City of New York, 11-cv-5845 (LTS) (JCF) (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 21, 2015).
61 Margo Schlanger, Trends in Prisoner Litigation, as the PLRA Enters Adulthood, 5 u.C. irVine law reV. 153 (2015).
62 Fay v. Noia, 372 u.S. 392, 402 (1963); fyodor dosToeVsky, The house of The dead (1861).
63 Fay v. Noia, 372 u.S. at 441.
64 Brown v. Plata, 563 u.S. 493, 510 (2011) (prisoners who are deprived of the fundamental right to liberty “retain the essence of human dignity inherent in all persons”).
Impact: Collected Essays on Expanding Access to Justice