Ideology, Disadvantage, and Federal District Court Inmate Civil Rights Filings: The Troubling Effects of Pro Se Status

Abstract

Nearly 80 percent of all federal judicial activity occurs in the district courts and a significant portion of that activity is the result of prisoners filing petitions against state and federal correctional representatives. We know relatively little about these lawsuits, however. This article focuses on inmate civil rights filings as a vital form of political action of those incarcerated and argues that ideology and disadvantage play a role in the ultimate outcome of these cases. I amass a large dataset of every prison condition or civil rights petition filed by an inmate from 1989 to 2016 and find that while ideology does not predict the likelihood an inmate lawsuit will succeed, that prisoners' pro se status, whether they file the petition without the aid of an attorney, makes it significantly more likely the suit will be dismissed and less likely that inmate will receive relief. This is suggestive evidence that pro se status, and not necessarily actual legal quality, may be driving outcomes in prisoners' rights cases. This article has implications not only for the study of judicial decision making in the federal district courts, but also as an example of important political action of a disenfranchised and neglected group in our legal system.