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Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the USA
“Expert and well-reasoned commentary on the justice system . . . His writings are dangerous.”— The Village Voice In Jailhouse Lawyers , award-winning journalist and death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal presents the stories and reflections of fellow prisoners-turned-advocates who have learned to use the court system to represent other prisoners—many uneducated or illiterate—and, in some cases, to win their freedom. In Abu-Jamal’s words, “This is the story of law learned, not in the ivory towers of multi-billion-dollar endowed universities [but] in the bowels of the slave-ship, in the dank dungeons of America.” Includes an introduction by Angela Y. Davis. Mumia Abu-Jamal ’s books include Live From Death Row and Death Blossoms .
- GenresNonfictionLawPolitics
280 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 2009
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 17 reviews
July 13, 2017
It's inspiring that Mumia & other Jailhouse Lawyers would dedicate their time to helping their fellow prisoners. The injustice system sounds even worse than I thot. I like how, so far, each chapter is divided into historical background & current reality. An excellent example of 'if we don't help each other; who will?' The 2nd half is focused on the people. An educational & enjoyable read.
June 17, 2025
Im so tired I don’t have it in me to give this the proper nuanced review it deserves, but i must nonetheless emphasize that is an incredibly important read if you consider yourself an abolitionist and wish to deeply complicate the biases you might’ve held towards lawyers as agents of the people / defenders of the law. Mumia is amazing and this project demonstrates such tenderness, curiosity, compassion, and anger. I learned so much about the Prison Litigation Reform Act that I hadn’t previously known, and as someone who is still trying to radicalize herself on prisons (or as Mumia describes, “America, the Prisonhouse of Nations”) and theories of American law, I can confidently say this dissolved some prior notions I had that overvictimized incarcerated people/ positioned them as helpless within the cell. Though there are limits to the effectiveness of “jail house lawyers” when the justice system notoriously strikes for their suppression, Mumia shows us the ways incarcerated people seek law educations within the prison to historically defend themselves and their communities against the corrupt American (in)justice system. I think my biggest takeaway was realizing the ways the privileged class of the “lawyer” has become virtually meaningless. Also there’s this incredible transcript from’s John Africa trial (including those of other MOVE members) where his self-represented won a NOT GUILTY decision on all charges and he walked free.
Quote from a Mead transcript: “And the ways I look at it is that the prison is the factory that turns out a product. And that product is angry people who are released to the streets full of rage, which gets taken out on their family members, their neighbors, and the community. And to try and treat individual products that the factory spews out, it’s spewing them out faster than you could possibly fix the problem. You need to focus on shutting the factory down. And the courts aren’t going to be of any assistance in that.”
There’s so much more i could say. Power to those kidnapped by the prison industrial complex! Free Mumia <3
Quote from a Mead transcript: “And the ways I look at it is that the prison is the factory that turns out a product. And that product is angry people who are released to the streets full of rage, which gets taken out on their family members, their neighbors, and the community. And to try and treat individual products that the factory spews out, it’s spewing them out faster than you could possibly fix the problem. You need to focus on shutting the factory down. And the courts aren’t going to be of any assistance in that.”
There’s so much more i could say. Power to those kidnapped by the prison industrial complex! Free Mumia <3
December 24, 2011
In the Forward by Angela Davis, she says in Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A., that Mumia Abu-Jamal introduces us to the valuable but exceedingly underappreciated contributions of prisoners who have learned how to use the law in defense of human rights.” While Cornel West calls Mumia one of “the most powerful critics in our society,” Mumia himself calls the telling of this particular story a “high honor.”
From the “NOTE FROM THE U.K. PUBLISHER This book came out of a visit with one of the most famous prisoners in the world and the most famous living Philadelphian,” Mumia, also appointed vice president representing jailhouse lawyers of the National Lawyers Guild. The publisher commissioned him to write about prisoners everywhere driven to become legal experts to defend themselves. The prisoners learn the law and insist on its application to win the justice those professional lawyers a.k.a. “street lawyers” don’t fight for. Jailhouse lawyers do this life-saving work with immeasurable constraints and very few resources.
In a very professional presentation of his research, with surprisingly no references to himself or his case, Mumia gives “a different perspective on the law, written from the bottom, with a faint hope that a right may be wronged, an injustice redressed.” The first question he addresses is “How does an imprisoned person become a jailhouse lawyer?” To answer, Mumia shares the stories of Jailhouse lawyers Steve Evans and Warren Henderson. We learn that jailhouse lawyers challenge the status quo, forcing prisons to change. For this jailhouse lawyers are singled out for discipline and retaliation (being put in the hole) more than another other group of prisoners.
Mumia explains the verb, “to represent.” “In the world of hip hop and rap, an artist is said to ‘represent’ when s’he speaks powerful, representative truths that accurately reflect the lives, experiences, and worldview of the urban poor.” There was an earlier period when “black artists acted, dressed, or spoke in ways that were imitative of whites and dismissive of Black cultural and aesthetic expression. They did not ‘represent’.” Mumia goes on to explain that jailhouse lawyers by their “occupation of the fiercest ground imaginable” act to represent their fellow prisoners in ways that street lawyers rarely do.
What about street lawyers? Jerome F. Kramer, a lawyer writing in the National Law Journal, offered a rare criticism of the low level of training of American lawyers; “The United States may be the only country claiming to be governed by law that turns an unskilled graduate loose on some unsuspecting client whose life, liberty or property may be at risk.”
Spectacular wins, heart-rending losses, immense legal experience, improvements to the system and changes to the nature of prison for many men and women are all accomplishments attributed to these legendary jailhouse lawyers: Richard Mayberry, Jane Dorotik, Midge DeLuca, Theresa Torricellas, David Ruiz, Ed Mead, Clarence Gideon, Ron Williams, Barry “Running Bear” Gibbs, David Reutter, Antoine Graham, Charles Van Dorsten, Paul Wright, Brooks Bey, and Sam Rutherford. Mumia sees successful jailhouse lawyers as being part of a “social movement to move the law and society beyond the barriers of the past.”
Mumia reminds us that in the “Prisonhouse of Nations” (the USA) there are more than 2.3 million men, women and juveniles under lock and key. He wrote Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A. from death row “to illustrate what transpires in the depths of America, the Prisonhouse of Nations.”
Before I complete this review I must make reference to Mumia’s own case. Here’s a review I wrote of a must read book if you are interested in the details of Mumia’s framing: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... The author’s account has Mumia’s only words to the judge during the trial as that he wanted to represent himself. He totally disked his lawyer, wouldn’t even talk to him. Just that he wanted to represent himself. This of course threw is lawyer off so bad he didn’t prepare and tried to get out of it so Mumia could represent himself. It didn’t go well at all and had me confused, until I read Mumia’s accounting here of other MOVE members who had represented themselves successfully. Mumia explains in Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A. that the revolutionary organization “rejects the system and, as a matter of principle, opposes representation by lawyers, opting instead for self-representation.
So, it is like I learned in nursing school to respect when a member of the Church of Scientology, for example, refuses a blood transfusion. There should be room in the courts to respect a prisoner’s right to defend him/herself.
From the “NOTE FROM THE U.K. PUBLISHER This book came out of a visit with one of the most famous prisoners in the world and the most famous living Philadelphian,” Mumia, also appointed vice president representing jailhouse lawyers of the National Lawyers Guild. The publisher commissioned him to write about prisoners everywhere driven to become legal experts to defend themselves. The prisoners learn the law and insist on its application to win the justice those professional lawyers a.k.a. “street lawyers” don’t fight for. Jailhouse lawyers do this life-saving work with immeasurable constraints and very few resources.
In a very professional presentation of his research, with surprisingly no references to himself or his case, Mumia gives “a different perspective on the law, written from the bottom, with a faint hope that a right may be wronged, an injustice redressed.” The first question he addresses is “How does an imprisoned person become a jailhouse lawyer?” To answer, Mumia shares the stories of Jailhouse lawyers Steve Evans and Warren Henderson. We learn that jailhouse lawyers challenge the status quo, forcing prisons to change. For this jailhouse lawyers are singled out for discipline and retaliation (being put in the hole) more than another other group of prisoners.
Mumia explains the verb, “to represent.” “In the world of hip hop and rap, an artist is said to ‘represent’ when s’he speaks powerful, representative truths that accurately reflect the lives, experiences, and worldview of the urban poor.” There was an earlier period when “black artists acted, dressed, or spoke in ways that were imitative of whites and dismissive of Black cultural and aesthetic expression. They did not ‘represent’.” Mumia goes on to explain that jailhouse lawyers by their “occupation of the fiercest ground imaginable” act to represent their fellow prisoners in ways that street lawyers rarely do.
What about street lawyers? Jerome F. Kramer, a lawyer writing in the National Law Journal, offered a rare criticism of the low level of training of American lawyers; “The United States may be the only country claiming to be governed by law that turns an unskilled graduate loose on some unsuspecting client whose life, liberty or property may be at risk.”
Spectacular wins, heart-rending losses, immense legal experience, improvements to the system and changes to the nature of prison for many men and women are all accomplishments attributed to these legendary jailhouse lawyers: Richard Mayberry, Jane Dorotik, Midge DeLuca, Theresa Torricellas, David Ruiz, Ed Mead, Clarence Gideon, Ron Williams, Barry “Running Bear” Gibbs, David Reutter, Antoine Graham, Charles Van Dorsten, Paul Wright, Brooks Bey, and Sam Rutherford. Mumia sees successful jailhouse lawyers as being part of a “social movement to move the law and society beyond the barriers of the past.”
Mumia reminds us that in the “Prisonhouse of Nations” (the USA) there are more than 2.3 million men, women and juveniles under lock and key. He wrote Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A. from death row “to illustrate what transpires in the depths of America, the Prisonhouse of Nations.”
Before I complete this review I must make reference to Mumia’s own case. Here’s a review I wrote of a must read book if you are interested in the details of Mumia’s framing: http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/... The author’s account has Mumia’s only words to the judge during the trial as that he wanted to represent himself. He totally disked his lawyer, wouldn’t even talk to him. Just that he wanted to represent himself. This of course threw is lawyer off so bad he didn’t prepare and tried to get out of it so Mumia could represent himself. It didn’t go well at all and had me confused, until I read Mumia’s accounting here of other MOVE members who had represented themselves successfully. Mumia explains in Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A. that the revolutionary organization “rejects the system and, as a matter of principle, opposes representation by lawyers, opting instead for self-representation.
So, it is like I learned in nursing school to respect when a member of the Church of Scientology, for example, refuses a blood transfusion. There should be room in the courts to respect a prisoner’s right to defend him/herself.
February 7, 2018
The level of research he managed from behind bars is simply astounding. I'm sad, angry, and hopeful all at the same time after reading it.
December 14, 2012
Mumia Abu-Jamal has been incarcerated since I have been born. That is in itself a powerful statement. This man has not been "outside" all my life.
I have been active in prisoner's rights programs in Japan for the last 8 years, and have learned a lot from my peers inside. I have learned that the prison system in Japan is no different from where Mumia and other political prisoners are being held in, and in some cases, worse. I have the highest respect for jailhouse lawyers who go out of their way to protect those inside, even if such actions may lead to themselves be persecuted by the system.
Safiya Bukhari, one of the founders of the Jericho prisoner's rights movement was an avid supporter of Mumia until she moved on to the next world. Safiya and Mumia have taught me many things, but one thing is for sure: Political prisoners only exist in foreign states. The United States, China, Japan, any state has political prisoners, and yet none will consider its own a political prisoner. Before the US or Japan can talk to China about it imprisoning people based on religion/political values, the US and Japan need to recollect on their own incarcerated population, and release all prisoners that have been imprisoned for solely political reasons.
Recently a criminal defendant was acquitted by the Tokyo High Court, and released. Immediately the victim's relatives and lawyer cried foul. There are too many cases in Japan and elsewhere where people are automatically considered guilty just because they were arrested and said to be guilty by the criminal investigation.
Personally, I do not care if Mumia killed the officer in question, or not. That is not the case right now. The issue is that he has been getting selective inhumane treatment by the correctional authorities, and has not been allowed a fair trial as such enumerated in the US Constitution. Mumia Abu-Jamal did not get a fair trial, there are numerous contradictory statements by witnesses, and there have been international support for a retrial and/or release. He has recently been taken off death row and redelegated to life in prison w/o parole.
I strongly recommend anyone to read "Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the USA" by Mumia Abu-Jamal (City Lights Books, 2009) but especially for those aspiring lawyers out there. Lawyering is not about being a high-roller in Wall Street corporate law. Lawyering is about protecting those in need without even thinking about the crap that you will have to deal with in doing so.
Mumia Abu-Jamal continues to give me strength in fighting the ills of society, and he is always in my prayers.
I have been active in prisoner's rights programs in Japan for the last 8 years, and have learned a lot from my peers inside. I have learned that the prison system in Japan is no different from where Mumia and other political prisoners are being held in, and in some cases, worse. I have the highest respect for jailhouse lawyers who go out of their way to protect those inside, even if such actions may lead to themselves be persecuted by the system.
Safiya Bukhari, one of the founders of the Jericho prisoner's rights movement was an avid supporter of Mumia until she moved on to the next world. Safiya and Mumia have taught me many things, but one thing is for sure: Political prisoners only exist in foreign states. The United States, China, Japan, any state has political prisoners, and yet none will consider its own a political prisoner. Before the US or Japan can talk to China about it imprisoning people based on religion/political values, the US and Japan need to recollect on their own incarcerated population, and release all prisoners that have been imprisoned for solely political reasons.
Recently a criminal defendant was acquitted by the Tokyo High Court, and released. Immediately the victim's relatives and lawyer cried foul. There are too many cases in Japan and elsewhere where people are automatically considered guilty just because they were arrested and said to be guilty by the criminal investigation.
Personally, I do not care if Mumia killed the officer in question, or not. That is not the case right now. The issue is that he has been getting selective inhumane treatment by the correctional authorities, and has not been allowed a fair trial as such enumerated in the US Constitution. Mumia Abu-Jamal did not get a fair trial, there are numerous contradictory statements by witnesses, and there have been international support for a retrial and/or release. He has recently been taken off death row and redelegated to life in prison w/o parole.
I strongly recommend anyone to read "Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the USA" by Mumia Abu-Jamal (City Lights Books, 2009) but especially for those aspiring lawyers out there. Lawyering is not about being a high-roller in Wall Street corporate law. Lawyering is about protecting those in need without even thinking about the crap that you will have to deal with in doing so.
Mumia Abu-Jamal continues to give me strength in fighting the ills of society, and he is always in my prayers.
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November 17, 2010"Mumia chronicles numerous stories surrounding the experiences of those who faced incarceration, but narrowly escaped with the power of the pen, and the tongue of one (or more) like-minded individuals possessing self-invented legal minds. Like-minded individuals who were immensely unafraid, to divinely deter the injustices they faced in prison. . . Mumia deconstructs the entire corruptive constructs rooted in the contradictive, confusing force that is historically known as American Law. Its callous vulture-culture continues to clash its claws upon the working poor, and the poor in general."
Marlon Crump, Poor Magazine
"More than a book about prisoners defending prisoners in what the author justly calls 'the Prisonhouse of Nations,' Mumia Abu-Jamal's Jailhouse Lawyers has the potential to jump-start the prison reform movement in the US. In addition to telling the individual stories of the best (and worst) jailhouse lawyers defending themselves and their fellow prisoners in the face of official hostility and, in many instances personal danger, and presenting a lively history of jailhouse lawyering in modern America, Abu-Jamal clearly exposes the political and racial bias of the US criminal justice system and explores the role of jailhouse lawyers in the jungle of American law."
Richard Vogel, OpEdNews.com
"Despite the U.S. Supreme Court's rejection April 6 of Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new trial, he continues to fight for his freedom. This would not have been possible without the support of millions worldwide. He reminds the reader of the more than two million Americans behind bars in similar situations to himself, and that those in the free world have a responsibility to those trapped 'in the bowels of the slave ship, in the hidden dank dungeons of America.'"
Jaisal Noor, The Indypendent
"Journalist, activist, and author Abu-Jamal writes a startling expose’ on otherwise shrouded subject matter, thusly inaugurating this book unto an exemplary class by itself. Indeed, the power of his truth upholds the long-neglected promise of transformation awaiting the domains of justice."
Mischa Geracoulis, The Black House Blog
"To borrow from an old African-American proverb, Mumia Abu-Jamal 'speaks truth to power' in his latest book on jailhouse lawyering, the American legal system, and the prison-industrial complex. . . . Abu-Jamal writes with incisive equanimity while presenting penetratingly disturbing facts, little known in mainstream society."
Mischa Geracoulis, Z Magazine>
Marlon Crump, Poor Magazine
"More than a book about prisoners defending prisoners in what the author justly calls 'the Prisonhouse of Nations,' Mumia Abu-Jamal's Jailhouse Lawyers has the potential to jump-start the prison reform movement in the US. In addition to telling the individual stories of the best (and worst) jailhouse lawyers defending themselves and their fellow prisoners in the face of official hostility and, in many instances personal danger, and presenting a lively history of jailhouse lawyering in modern America, Abu-Jamal clearly exposes the political and racial bias of the US criminal justice system and explores the role of jailhouse lawyers in the jungle of American law."
Richard Vogel, OpEdNews.com
"Despite the U.S. Supreme Court's rejection April 6 of Abu-Jamal's appeal for a new trial, he continues to fight for his freedom. This would not have been possible without the support of millions worldwide. He reminds the reader of the more than two million Americans behind bars in similar situations to himself, and that those in the free world have a responsibility to those trapped 'in the bowels of the slave ship, in the hidden dank dungeons of America.'"
Jaisal Noor, The Indypendent
"Journalist, activist, and author Abu-Jamal writes a startling expose’ on otherwise shrouded subject matter, thusly inaugurating this book unto an exemplary class by itself. Indeed, the power of his truth upholds the long-neglected promise of transformation awaiting the domains of justice."
Mischa Geracoulis, The Black House Blog
"To borrow from an old African-American proverb, Mumia Abu-Jamal 'speaks truth to power' in his latest book on jailhouse lawyering, the American legal system, and the prison-industrial complex. . . . Abu-Jamal writes with incisive equanimity while presenting penetratingly disturbing facts, little known in mainstream society."
Mischa Geracoulis, Z Magazine>
January 24, 2011
Mumia Abu-Jamal's fame as the death-row inmate journalist and activist for prison abolition has made him a worldwide celebrity. This celebrity, and a knack for calm, collected writing on an agitating topic, lends itself to bolster the already inspirational stories of these unsung heroes of American dungeons.
Abu-Jamal does not tell these stories in a void, or as an outsider, he wrote from death row. In the foreword, Angela Y. Davis writes, "If slavery denied African and African-descended people the right to full legal personality, and the practices of racialized 2nd tier citizenship institutionalized the inheritance of slavery, so in the 20th and 21st century prisoners find that the curtailment of their capacity to seek redress thru the legal system confirms and reaffirms that inheritance." Mumia writes from within this reality, without hammering the issue to death, but using the stories of others to illustrate this injustice.
The theme of resisting oppression runs through this compilation of the lives and cases of those few who take up knowledge of the complicated legal system, and the policies therein which apply to those in prison. While Abu-Jamal delivers his analysis with the coolness of a reporter, a sense of comradeship and admiration comes through in his tone. Although ever the journalist, Abu-Jamal is also the activist. Throughout, he plants seeds of ideas for action, and towards the end he begins an exploration of the revolution written into each writ and brief and breathed into each case. He refers to the "paradox of being a jailhouse lawyer-- to be at once both subversive to and a subject of the law." As a remedy, he suggests openly to those who would be jailhouse lawyers, or who can advocate in such venues: "Speak truth to power."
Abu-Jamal does not tell these stories in a void, or as an outsider, he wrote from death row. In the foreword, Angela Y. Davis writes, "If slavery denied African and African-descended people the right to full legal personality, and the practices of racialized 2nd tier citizenship institutionalized the inheritance of slavery, so in the 20th and 21st century prisoners find that the curtailment of their capacity to seek redress thru the legal system confirms and reaffirms that inheritance." Mumia writes from within this reality, without hammering the issue to death, but using the stories of others to illustrate this injustice.
The theme of resisting oppression runs through this compilation of the lives and cases of those few who take up knowledge of the complicated legal system, and the policies therein which apply to those in prison. While Abu-Jamal delivers his analysis with the coolness of a reporter, a sense of comradeship and admiration comes through in his tone. Although ever the journalist, Abu-Jamal is also the activist. Throughout, he plants seeds of ideas for action, and towards the end he begins an exploration of the revolution written into each writ and brief and breathed into each case. He refers to the "paradox of being a jailhouse lawyer-- to be at once both subversive to and a subject of the law." As a remedy, he suggests openly to those who would be jailhouse lawyers, or who can advocate in such venues: "Speak truth to power."
January 3, 2016
I've been reading some of Mumia's work and I am always impressed by the level of research he does and the completely accessible way he writes in his work--from a maximum security prison cell. This was an incisive look at the people who do jailhouse lawyering but will most likely never be heard of or go on to become high power, paid lawyers. But they do the work, become conversant with the material, know the cases, and have made--or have tried to make--some remarkable changes in the prison industrial complex as they pursue justice from the belly of the beast. A great read and a remarkable historical resource.
January 18, 2019
“From his unique vantage point (he has been incarcerated for more than a quarter of a century, most of that on death row), Abu-Jamal aptly humanizes the individuals toiling behind bars to bring cases against enormous institutional, societal, and legal obstacles. . . . [The book] testifies to the character of many jailhouse lawyers, who, when treated with disdain or worse, quietly persist in reading, analyzing, writing, and fighting to do what is right — doing justice.” –Heidi Boghosian, The Federal Lawyer
November 4, 2019
I often found this book to be rambling. However, it is a perspective on the judicial system that I was completely unacquainted with, and therefore I found it very much worth reading. Mumia Abu-Jamal has been in prison for decades. He has something important to say.
September 2, 2013
I had no idea that jailhouse lawyers were so persecuted. Total injustice, that's for sure.
March 31, 2024
A very thought provoking book about the sociology of incarceration. The amount of research that’s been conducted and cited by Mumia while incarcerated is incredible. I wish there was more about what readers should do with this information - what’s the call to action?
September 5, 2025
Fantastic book. Well written and thought provoking. I took notes in all the margins. Will change how you view the legal and prison system. Should be a required reading for anyone interested in law or corrections.
February 18, 2021
Enlightening. The author's writing is crisp, well-cited, and informative. In addition, there were multiple episodes of humor for such a serious issue.
November 24, 2022
i will never read a book again
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April 26, 2019344.7303 A165 2009
Displaying 1 - 16 of 17 reviews