At the American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago, Illinois, Tammy Ortiz will present a poster on an Ithaka S+R project focusing on the role of the law library for system impacted communities.

The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. For individuals impacted by the legal system, access to the law is of critical importance. A series of Supreme Court rulings, notably Bounds vs. Smith (1977) and Lewis vs. Casey (1996), established a limited right for people in prison to access the law, but did not define standards or means of access, leading the Departments of Correction to adopt a patchwork of approaches to provision. Most, however, have sought to meet these legal requirements by providing people who are incarcerated with some form of access to a law library.

Drawing on a national survey of law librarians serving incarcerated patrons and interviews with both librarians and incarcerated people, the study documents barriers created by restrictive policies, limited resources, and communication constraints. It also surfaces examples of promising practices that improve access. By incorporating the perspectives of incarcerated individuals themselves, including those who served as “jailhouse lawyers,” the project provides a more complete picture of the current landscape.

The goal of this work is not only to document challenges but also to spark dialogue on how the broader library community can strengthen access to the law for incarcerated patrons.