Prisoners' Self-Help Litigation Manual

Prisoners' Self-Help Litigation Manual, in its much-anticipated fourth edition, is an indispensable guide for prisoners and prisoner advocates seeking to understand the rights guaranteed to prisoners by law and how to protect those rights. Clear, comprehensive, practical advice provides prisoners with everything they need to know on conditions of confinement, civil liberties in prison, procedural due process, the legal system, how to litigate, conducting effective legal research, and writing legal documents. Written by two legal and penitentiary experts with intimate knowledge of prisoner's rights and legal aid work, authors John Boston and Daniel E. Manville strategically focus on federal constitutional law, providing prisoners and those wishing to assist them with the most important information concerning legal rights. Over the past decade, prison law and conditions have changed significantly. This new edition is updated to include the most relevant prisoners' rights topics and approaches to litigation. Updates include all aspects of prison life as well as material on legal research, legal writing, types of legal remedies, and how to effectively use those remedies. Certainly the most authoritative, well-organized and relevant prisoner's rights manual available - - the eagerly awaited fourth edition should be purchased by everyone interested in civil rights for the incarcerated.

John Boston is Director of the Prisoners' Rights Project of the New York City Legal Aid Society. Mr. Boston received his undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University and earned his J.D. from New York University School of Law. He began his career as a research coordinator for The Defender Project of the Twentieth Century Fund in New York City. He has also contributed research and writing concerning prison population issues for the Correctional Association of New York and began his tenure as the Legal Aid Society as a staff attorney. Mr. Boston is widely published, with numerous articles on prisoners, their rights and circumstances nationwide, and has litigated several cases pertaining to prisoner's rights. He also participated in a national working group with the ACLU in response to the Prison Litigation Reform Act, reviewing briefs and pleadings, consulting with prisoner advocates, preparing CLE and practice materials. He is on the faculty of the Practicing Law Institute and co-administrator of the Prisoners' Rights section of the website www.probono.com.
Daniel E. Manville is an attorney specializing in civil rights litigation. Mr. Manville has a Bachelor in Science from Central Michigan University (1976); a Bachelor Degree in General Studies from Wayne State University (1976); a Juris Doctorate from Antioch School of Law (now University of District of Columbia Law School) (1981); a Master in Criminal Justice, Michigan State University (1985). From 1988 through 2003, he was in private practice concentrating on providing representation to prisoners. From 2003 to summer of 2007, Manville was the Clinical Staff Attorney for Wayne State University Civil Rights Litigation Clinic. During 2007 and 2008 academic year, Manville was a Visiting Professor at University of Denver Law School Civil Rights Clinic. He is also an author and co-author of a number of self-help litigation manuals for prisoners; a number of articles on rights of prisoners; and co-author of A Prisoner's Rights, 2005 Annual Survey of Michigan Law, 2005 Wayne Law Review.