Prerequisite: None

Exam Type: Any-Day Take-Home

While courses in criminal law tend to focus on the “front end” of the criminal legal process (investigation, prosecution, and verdict), this course focuses on the back end: the law of incarceration. What legal obligations does the state have toward those it incarcerates? Topics to be covered include: the evolution of prison rights litigation; the scope of constitutional rights in prison; the prison disciplinary process; the interaction of prison law and remedies; conditions of confinement; medical and mental health care; sexual assault; the intersection of prison law and gender identity; religious freedom; the enforcement of disability law inside prisons; immigration detention and incarceration; and alternatives to an American-style carceral system. There will also be a focus on legal practice—how lawyers litigate prison rights cases.