"Jailhouse lawyers" are inmates who have acquired some degree of legal expertise and assist both themselves and other inmates in filing petitions and suits against their institutions. Jailhouse lawyers have had and will continue to have a significant impact on the reform of jails and prisons. A discussion of the constitutional basis for inmate rights considers inmates' rights under the First, Fourth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Also discussed are the mandate for prison and jail law libraries and other forms of legal assistance, as well as conflicts between State and Federal statutes regarding inmate rights. A section on civil remedies for inmates focuses on avenues for civil remedies and the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995, a Federal law designed to decrease the number of State and Federal filings of inmate lawsuits in Federal courts, in part by preventing multiple suit filings by the same inmates when the suits were determined to be frivolous. A section on inmate rights and selected litigation issues features discussions of racism, due process, and equal protection, as well as the right to rehabilitation, misclassification problems and program eligibility, cell searches and seizures of contraband, cruel and unusual punishment, overcrowding and the right to privacy, and negligence and deliberate indifference. A discussion of issues and rights associated with the death penalty and the death row experience is followed by an overview of inmate grievance procedures. 2 figures, 9 tables, key terms, review questions, and 9 suggested readings