Prisoner legal union

I am founder of a grassroots legal Union for prisoners by prisoners (Legal Eagles). Us avid law library attendees recognize the need for prisoners to have meaningful access to forms and courts. Thousands of inmates simply cannot gain access to limited law library space.

We seek mobility in the prison and to offer speakers on prison policy to new inmates on how to 602, and how to get indigent services and legal forms without hassle. We want to offer law books for borrow so inmates can study overnight in their cells, not just 2 hours a month in the law library. Possibly in the future we want to obtain our own copy machine to avoid censorship.

We are in California Medical Facility (CMF) and 50% of us are HIV/AIDS prisoners. I am one trying to make change for good before I die, leave my mark. Being HIV positive, I have what equates to a death sentence.

New rules here mean that inmates cannot get books unless they pay for them themselves. Otherwise it will count as a quarterly package! It's come down to getting a law book to help and do without goods or get food and hygiene products and stay in prison without recourse. I am new at starting a prison legal union so any start up info or suggestions are welcome. So far prison officials are not receptive to our ideas.

We seek start up grants and accounts to pay 10 cents an hour to Legal Eagles to help inmates. Unfortunately inmates don't do anything if there is not anything in it for them. The prison pays 8 cents an hour to most of its inmate employees.

- a California prisoner at CMF, December 2004

MIM responds: We welcome prisoners taking up legal work on behalf of others. Most prisoners do not have the finances to afford legal counsel, so they become jailhouse lawyers, teaching themselves what is necessary to fight their own legal battles. MIM set up a Prisoners Legal Clinic (PLC) several years ago, at the urging of some of our comrades behind bars. Prisoners working with the PLC put together legal briefs and guides for others. Some of these are printed in MIM Notes, others are distributed to prisoners as needed. We look forward to working with the Legal Eagles to expand our legal work behind bars.