The Center for Correctional Justice- AWay to Resolve Prisoners' Grievances?

• DOI: 10.1177/003288557105100204
• Author: Alan M. Schuman,Virgina A. McArthur,Linda R. Singer
• Published date: 01 October 1971
• Date: 01 October 1971
• Subject Matter: Articles

The Center for Correctional Justice-
AWay to Resolve Prisoners’ Grievances?
by
Linda R. Singer*
Virgina A. McArthur**
Alan M. Schuman***
THE CENTER FOR CORRECTIONAL JUSTICE opened in 1971 with a re-
search and demonstration grant from the Office of Economic Oppor-
tunity’s Oflice of Legal Services. The Center’s program is based on two
premises: that people committed to correctional supervision, particularly
those in prison, must be given at least the same access to legal services
that they could obtain in the community; and that lawyers must develop
alternative strategies for resolving clients’ grievances concerning the
correctional system.
The Center’s pilot project involves the approximately 1500 pri-
soners and parolees in the District of Columbia who have been sen-
tenced under the Federal Youth Corrections Act. Legal counselors-
an ex-offender staff specialist, a full-time lawyer and several part-time
law students-interview clients in Youth Services institutions and com-
munity centers. Some problems, such as the inability to contact a
court-appointed lawyer or ignorance of the status of pending charges,
can be solved by the counselors themselves. Others, including questions
about the legality of criminal convictions and sentences, pending
charges and detainers in other jurisdictions, divorces, welfare claims,
consumer and landlord-tenant problems, are referred to outside attor-
neys. Still others, which concern complaints about the correctional
system, are handled by the full Center staff.
In its first eight months of operation, the Center dealt with over
500 cases, which fell into three categories: post-conviction, civil and
administrative. The most numerous cases (60 percent of all cases) have
been in the post-conviction or criminal area. Next in frequency (26
* Executive Director, Center for Correctional Justice.
** Director of Research, Center for Correctional Justice.
*** Former Director of Youth Services, District of Columbia Department of
Corrections; currently Director of Social Services, Superior Court of the District
of Columbia.
The research reported herein was performed pursuant to a grant from the
Officer of Economic Opportunity, Washington, D. C. 20506. The opinions ex-
pressed herein are those of the authors and should not be construed as reporting
the opinions or policies of any agency of the United States Government.
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percent) are the administrative grievances, both individual and group
complaints. The smallest proportion (14 percent) concern civil legal
problems outside the correctional system.
INDIVIDUAL LEGAL PROBLEMS
After only a few months, it seems clear that the first portion of
the Center’s experiment is a success. Where legal services are made
available, prisoners will use them, and many problems heretofore
neglected will be resolved. The...