Prisoner's Rights - Failure to Provide Adequate Law Libraries Denies Inmates' Right of Access to the Courts

Authors

Irma S. Russell, University of Missouri - Kansas City, School of LawFollow

Publication Date

Summer 1978

Document Type

Article

Abstract

This article examines the Supreme Court's decision in Bounds v. Smith and the movement toward recognition of the rights that prisoners retain after incarceration.

Part I outlines the nature and legal foundation of the right of access to the courts as endorsed by Bounds. Part II examines questions raised by the dissenting opinions concerning the scope and validity of the right. Part III addresses the practical implication of the decision and concludes that the right of state and federal prisoners to access legal information in preparing legal papers stands on firmer ground after this decision.

Publication Title

University of Kansas Law Review

Volume

26

Issue

4

Recommended Citation

Irma S. Russell, Prisoner's Rights - Failure to Provide Adequate Law Libraries Denies Inmates' Right of Access to the Courts, 26 University of Kansas Law Review 636 (1978).
Available at: https://irlaw.umkc.edu/faculty_works/933