19-c-2 Your Right to Meaningful Access to the Courts and Assistance of Counsel

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

19-C-2. Your Right to Meaningful Access to the Courts and Assistance of Counsel

You have a constitutional right to meaningful court access and assistance of counsel.¹⁰¹ In Davidson v. Scully, the Second Circuit held that restrictions on a prisoner's legal mail can violate this right.¹⁰² For example, courts have stated that allowing prison officials to read mail to courts or between attorneys and prisoners can prevent prisoners from bringing abuses to the attention of courts because they fear retaliation. ¹⁰³ Thus, even if your First Amendment claim fails because the restriction at issue is related to an important government objective, you can still challenge the restriction if it prevents you from having meaningful court access.

However, these claims will likely not succeed unless you also prove that there was some actual harm to your ability to assert a legal claim. ¹⁰⁴ In one recent New York case, the district court reiterated that to state a claim for denial of access to the courts, the prisoner must show that the defendant's actions actually hindered his pursuit of legal claims and caused actual injury.¹⁰⁵ The court determined that the prisoner in this case experienced only inconvenience and a delay in sending outgoing mail, neither of which reach the threshold. ¹⁰⁶ Some courts have also required that the interference be "deliberate and malicious." ¹⁰⁷ In other words, they require that the prison authorities have intentionally interfered with a prisoner's legal mail...