Prison Legal News

Prison Legal News (PLN) is a project run by the Human Rights Defense Center. PLN is an independent 72-page monthly magazine that provides cutting edge review and analysis of prisoners' rights, court rulings and news concerning criminal justice-related issues. PLN has a national (U.S.) focus on both state and federal prison issues, with some international coverage. PLN provides information that enables prisoners and other concerned individuals and organizations to gain a better understanding of a broad range of criminal justice topics, including issues related to the protection and enforcement of prisoners' rights. Some of the areas that the PLN covers are - prison labor, the private prison industry, medical and mental health care for prisoners, misconduct and abuse by prison and jail staff, settlements and verdicts in lawsuits against detention facilities, juvenile justice, the death penalty, the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), prison censorship, HIV and hep C, solitary confinement, and racial and socio-economic disparities in our criminal justice system. PLN also publishes another monthly magazine, Criminal Legal News (CLN), which reports on criminal case law, policing, prosecutorial misconduct and related issues.