Resources: Legal Resources
PARC corresponds with and mails a directory of these resources to prisoners, their friends and family members. We are often the first point of contact for people to connect with prisoners' rights organizations, community organizations, prison literature and arts projects, family and visiting resources, health care and legal resources, parole and pre-release resources, and the prison abolition movement.
Download a PDF copy of the November 2024 Edition here.
Please note recent updates since our last publication:
Compassion Works For All has closed (see listing in Religious Programs)
Missouri Prison Books: Now sending to Kansas, Illinois, and Indiana. Is banned in Missouri, since Sept 23, 2024
The Pathfinder Network: correct phone is 503-892-5396
Providence Books Through Bars c/o Paper Nautilus 19 S Angell Street Providence RI 02906
Women’s Book Project 3501 Aldrich Ave. S, Minneapolis MN 55408
PDX Books Through Bars: ships up to 3 books for free to anyone incarcerated in all states except Wisconsin. General topics/genres only. PO Box 11222; Portland OR, 97211
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Prison Law Office The Prison Law Office litigates and monitors California and Arizona class action lawsuits regarding medical, dental, and mental health services, lack of reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities, use of excessive force, racial discrimination, overcrowding, unsanitary living conditions, prolonged extreme solitary confinement, and due process violations. Also has an extensive set of legal informational handouts. Note: the Office generally does not handle criminal appeals or habeas corpus petitions challenging criminal convictions. Write with your specific questions and they will send you a packet if they have one that applies. Se habla Español. Serves Californians and Arizonans only. Encouraged to write or email rather than call. |
Legal Resources |
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Prison Legal News Prison Legal News (PLN) is a project of the Human Rights Defense Center. It is a 72-page monthly journal covering prison related news, summaries of recent case-law decisions affecting prisoners, and analysis from across the country. A one-year subscription is $30 for prisoners, $35 for individuals and $90 for lawyers and institutions. Single copies of current or back issues are $5. PLN also sells many books related to prison issues, including The Habeas Citebook: Prosecutorial Misconduct, Prison Education Guide, The Disciplinary Self-Help Litigation Manual, The Habeas Citebook: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, and Prisoners' Self Help Litigation Manual. Write for a copy of the book list. |
Legal Resources |
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Rocky Mountain Innocence Center Accepts cases of actual innocence in Nevada, Wyoming or Utah; DNA and non-DNA cases; seven or more years left to serve on sentence; must be completely innocent; significant new evidence must be available to prove the prisoner’s innocence. |
Legal Resources, Innocence Projects |
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Southern Center for Human Rights SCHR provides legal representation to people facing the death penalty in Georgia and Alabama only, as well as in cases of unconstitutional conditions of confinement. SCHR also provides free access to a number of publications and handouts, including your free speech rights in prison and Georgia parole handbook. Serves people in Georgia and Alabama only. |
Legal Resources |
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The Exoneration Initiative Accepts cases of actual innocence in New York; DNA and non-DNA cases (specializes in non-DNA); no sentence requirements. |
Legal Resources, Innocence Projects |
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The Exoneration Project Legal clinic reviewing cases of innocence for people who have gone to trial and were found guilty of crimes they did not commit. They consider post-conviction cases from across the nation for individuals wrongfully convicted of different types of crimes and with different sentence lengths, including cases where a defendant has served their complete sentence or pled guilty. They do not consider cases of self-defense. In order to apply for representation, the defendant must be innocent of the crime and the trial must be completed and have resulted in a conviction. Expect delays in the summer. Will consider cases nationwide. |
Legal Resources, Innocence Projects |
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The Last Resort Exoneration Project Free investigative and legal services to the convicted innocent of New Jersey who have substantial claims of factual innocence and are willing to cooperate with requests aimed at discovering the truth. Serves New Jersey only. |
Legal Resources, Innocence Projects |
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The MacArthur Justice Center The MacArthur Justice Center is a nonprofit law firm with locations in Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Washington D.C. It takes on cases regarding police misconduct, solitary confinement, wrongful convictions, and class actions around prison conditions and parole. Now also a law clinic at Northwestern law school. Write to Chicago address for other locations. Serves nationwide. Expect delay or form response. |
Legal Resources |
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Thurgood Marshall School of Law Innocence Project Handles claims of actual innocence typically involving DNA evidence testing, mistaken identification, or that a crime never actually occurred. Thurgood Marshall law students work directly on the project and screen cases, obtain and review case histories, investigate facts, interview involved persons, write case timelines and summaries, perform case analyses, and prepare written case evaluations and pleadings. Serves Texas only. |
Legal Resources, Innocence Projects |
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University of Miami Law Innocence Clinic The clinic handles cases involving innocent individuals incarcerated for a minimum of 10 years who have new evidence ranging from recanting witnesses to new witnesses discovered by students to prosecutorial misconduct and ineffective assistance of counsel. The clinic also accepts cases involving DNA evidence. Florida only. |
Legal Resources, Innocence Projects |