Exploiting Prisoners: Precedent, Technology, and the Promise of Access to Justice

Abstract

This article examines the legal evolution of access to information for incarcerated litigants and the role that access to the internet, libraries, and “ownership” of the law play in providing access to the Courts under decades of precedent. It then discusses the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence regarding the way technology has changed American behavior, including access to the internet, and how that significant shift in behavior is impacting incarcerated litigants. It concludes by offering a hopeful – and significantly more fair – approach to providing inmates access the courts and, therefore, true access to justice, without exploiting them in the process.

Keywords: technology, access to justice, criminal law, prisoners, net neutrality, precedent