-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [Juvdefend] Support for exempting incarcerated kids from the PLRA
Date: Tue, 3 Mar 2009 16:03:05 -0500
From: NJDC Lists <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Our colleagues at the ACLU are requesting your signature on the petition
described below. The final sign-on letter is attached. If you have any
questions please contact *Amy Fettig, *Staff Counsel and SAVE
Coordinator, at:
ACLU National Prison Project
915 15th Street NW
7th Floor
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 548-6608 (tel)
(202) 393-4931 (fax)
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
Dear Youth Advocates:
The SAVE Coalition is reaching out to the juvenile justice community
requesting your support for reform of the Prison Litigation Reform Act
(PLRA), especially as it applies to incarcerated youth. We are a
coalition of organizations and individuals dedicated to protecting the
U.S. prison and jail population--a group that is increasingly vulnerable
to violence and abuse since the 1996 enactment of the PLRA. Members of
the SAVE Coalition have studied the impact of the PLRA and developed
proposed reforms to the law that do not interfere with its stated
purpose: to reduce frivolous litigation by prisoners.
Applying the PLRA to juveniles serves neither the goals of the Act nor
the welfare of our country's children. The PLRA was designed to reduce
the number of frivolous prisoner lawsuits reaching the courts. But
juveniles do not generally file lawsuits, frivolous or otherwise. They
generally lack the literacy skills, knowledge of the court system and
access to legal materials that would be needed to engage in litigation.
The SAVE Coalition therefore recommends that incarcerated youth be
exempted entirely from the PLRA.
The PLRA has negatively impacted incarcerated youth generally, but a few
provisions in particular have proven especially troublesome for
juveniles. Most prominent among them is the exhaustion requirement,
which holds that a prisoner must exhaust all administrative remedies at
his or her facility before filing a lawsuit in federal court. In order
to satisfy this requirement, youth must navigate convoluted grievance
systems and comply with often challenging rules regarding deadlines, the
necessary content of complaints, and appeals processes. Many youth
either do not know of, or do not understand the grievance systems in
their facilities, and many more fear retaliation for filing grievances.
As a result, this provision effectively undermines the rights of
incarcerated youth by denying them any access to the federal courts and
the oversight and accountability that the courts provide.
As youth advocates, your support of this initiative is incredibly
important. By signing on to the letter, you will be sending a strong
message to Congress that the PLRA needs to be reformed before any other
youths are victimized by its stringent and inappropriate provisions. In
showing strong support for our efforts amongst juvenile justice experts
and advocates, we will demonstrate the urgent need to ensure that
incarcerated youth are excluded from the harmful impacts of the PLRA.
This issue has already generated significant interest on Capitol Hill.
In the 110^th Congress, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), chair of the House
Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, held
two hearings on his proposed remedy to the PLRA, the "Prison Abuse
Remedies Act," H.R. 4109. We are now working to ensure that PLRA
reform legislation is reintroduced in this new Congress. With your
support for this initiative we hope to stop the PLRA's ability to
undermine the rights and protections of incarcerated youth.
If you have any questions, please contact SAVE Coordinator Amy Fettig at
[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]> or 202/548-6608 or
visit our website www.savecoalition.org
<http://www.savecoalition.org/>. We would appreciate your affirmation
of support for the letter by March 13.
_______________________________________________
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