16-A-2. Seven Essential Tips for Bringing Section 1983 and Section 1331 Actions
(a) It Is VERY Important That You Read Chapter 14 of the JLM, "The Prison Litigation Reform Act," Before You Begin Your Section 1983 Claim.
The Prison Litigation Reform Act 10 ("PLRA") is a federal law that significantly affects Section 1983 cases. You should be aware of the PLRA's "three strikes" rule.11 This rule gives you a "strike" whenever you have a case dismissed as frivolous, malicious, or failing to state a valid legal claim. If you have three cases dismissed as "strikes," you will not be able to use the in forma pauperis procedure 12 unless you are under imminent danger of serious physical injury, or you may lose good time credit.13 Accordingly, you must be sure that you meet all of the PLRA requirements before you begin any lawsuit. In particular, you should be careful about the PLRA requirement that you need to exhaust (use up) all your administrative remedies-such as prison grievance procedures and appeals-before you go to court. In other words, you need to figure out what procedures exist within your prison to protest your situation and use all of those procedures before you file a lawsuit. 14 Although some courts used to require that you describe what you have done already to exhaust your remedies in your complaint, the Supreme Court recently said that such rules are not allowed.15 The complaint only begins the lawsuit, however. You will still have to describe what you have done to exhaust administrative remedies at some point. Many prisoners' Section 1983 complaints are dismissed because they did not exhaust their prison's administrative remedies.16
(b) Your Constitutional Rights Are Not Absolute.
In most cases, your constitutional rights will be balanced against the state or federal government's interest in maintaining a secure prison environment. In many situations, your constitutional rights may be outweighed by the government's interest in prison security. For most constitutional claims, courts use a test established in a case called Turner v. Safley17 to determine whether your constitutional rights have been violated.18 This test is discussed in detail in Part B(2)(a) of this Chapter.
(c) Do NOT Use Section 1983 to Challenge Your Original Criminal Conviction, Your Sentence, Loss of Good Time, or Denial of Parole.
You cannot use Section 1983 to claim that your constitutional rights were violated based on the fact that you were convicted or the length of your sentence except in very limited circumstances.19 Instead of Section 1983, you can challenge your conviction or sentence by appealing or, if your appeal is denied, by filing for a writ of habeas corpus or other post-conviction relief.20 You also cannot use Section 1983 to challenge a loss of good time credit, a parole denial, or other official actions that directly affect how much time you spend in prison.21 You should use state procedures to challenge these losses. For...
