The Prison Law Office ("PLO") litigates and monitors California and Arizona class action lawsuits regarding medical and mental health services, lack of reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities, use of excessive force, unsanitary living conditions, prolonged extreme solitary confinement, and due process violations. Also has an extensive set of legal informational handouts about various California prison- and county jail-related issues.

Note: PLO engages in class action lawsuits and does not represent people in individual cases. People can write with specific questions and they will send a packet if they have one that applies. Se habla Español. Serves Californians and Arizonans only. Encouraged to write or email rather than call.

Accepts actual innocence cases for people convicted in a Northern or Central California county; DNA and non-DNA cases; no minimum sentence requirements. The applicant must have been convicted in state court of a serious felony. Will consider cases involving faulty forensic science, police or prosecutor misconduct, ineffective assistance of counsel, eyewitness misidentification, false testimony and false confessions. Northern and Central California only.

LSPC publishes manuals, reports, fact sheets and pamphlets for CA prisoners in the following areas: Family Matters (guardianship, visitation, pregnancy); Reentry Services; Prison Conditions (isolation and other), and Divorce Issues. Provides limited individualized legal advice and representation to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated parents. Serves Californians only.

Insight Prison Project (IPP) offers transformational restorative justice based programs for incarcerated people designed to facilitate insight, accountability, integrity, responsibility, compassion, empathy and healing. IPP's Victim Offender Education Group (VOEG), a nationally recognised program, is a 52+ week in-person restorative justice curriculum that is currently offered in 6 prisons in California and 6 in Colorado. IPP does NOT offer correspondence courses.

Quaker-founded group that advocates and lobbies for CA state laws that are just, compassionate, and respectful of the inherent worth of every person. Staff can answer questions about legislative matters by letter.  Serves Californians only.

LSA offers a free monthly newsletter, Lifer-Line, and the quarterly California Lifer Newsletter with reviews of the latest published and unpublished state and federal cases concerning parole issues, parole board news, legislation and articles on prison, parole and correctional issues of interest to prisoners and their families. Subscription rates: prisoners, $35 per year, $60 for 2 yrs. Free individuals, $99 per year, Also correspondence courses on several subjects relevant to parole suitability.   Sign up for free newsletter and correspondence courses on the website, www.lifesupportalliance.org.  Focuses on the California lifer population, but anyone can benefit from their information.

The Innocence and Justice Clinic, formerly the California Innocence Project, provides free legal assistance to wrongfully convicted individuals who are still incarcerated. To request an application, write to: 225 Cedar St, San Diego, CA 92101. For your case to be considered you must have been convicted, already completed your appeals, be innocent of the crime for which you are imprisoned and have new evidence of your innocence exists or is discoverable. The Clinic only considers cases where the conviction occurred in the following counties: San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange, Imperial, Riverside, San Bernadino, Southern District of California (Federal) and Central District of California (Federal).

CFASC is dedicated to stopping the inhumane treatment of prisoners within the California penal system, especially those held in solitary confinement. Their ultimate goal is to end the use of solitary confinement. CFASC is primarily an organization working with family members. Serves Californians only.

Middle Ground Prison Reform has been working for Arizona's prisoners and their families since 1983. public education about the need for criminal justice reform and legislative advocacy on behalf of prisoners and their visitors. They do not publish a hard copy newsletter. Instead, they encourage friends and family of prisoners to visit their website and download and mail copies of pertinent information inside to prisoners. Serves Arizona only. 

Non-profit collective sending free books since 2007. Request by genre. We do not have law books. Serves people in Arizona only.