A prisoner's need for legal assistance does not end with his or her conviction. While public defenders are provided without cost for the trials of those accused of crimes, free legal assistance is not necessarily available for appealing convictions. To challenge the decision of a trial court in a higher one, a prisoner must often pay his own attorney costs, find someone else to do it for him, or do the legal work himself. In a similar instance, prisoners are not usually entitled to free counsel for civil suits. A prisoner who is a party in a paternity suit or a divorce or child custody case, is usually thrown to his own resources when it comes to defending his interests. The inmates right to a "reasonable" amount of legal aid usually takes the form of a prison law library in which prisoners do their own legal research. Prisoner self-help manuals are listed in this document as well as articles debating whether appeals are optional or elective legal activities.