14-e-2 What Are Prison Conditions?

• Library: A Jailhouse Lawyer's Manual (2020 Edition)

14-E-2. What Are Prison Conditions?

The exhaustion requirement applies only to cases filed by prisoners about "prison conditions." The Supreme Court has said the phrase applies "to all inmate suits about prison life, whether they involve general circumstances or particular episodes, and whether they allege excessive force or some other wrong."²¹⁵ In other words, if something happened to you in prison, it is probably covered by the exhaustion requirement.²¹⁶

What anyone does outside the prison system generally will not be considered as relating to "prison conditions."²¹⁷ What happened while you were in police custody generally will also not be considered as relating to "prison conditions."²¹⁸ The same might be true of medical facilities outside the prison.²¹⁹ Disputes over whether you should be in prison at all are not about "prison conditions."²²⁰ Whether parole release or revocation relate to "prison conditions" is not entirely clear.²²¹ Complaints from halfway houses or residential treatment programs are likely to be considered as being about "prison conditions" as long as (1) you are there because of a criminal conviction or charge and (2) you are not free to leave.²²² For example, prisoners' complaining about not receiving psychiatric medication and referrals for their mental illness before being released state a claim about prison conditions.²²³ However, placement in or removal from these programs might not be about "prison conditions."²²⁴

215. Porter v. Nussle, 534 U.S. 516, 532, 122 S....