ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Prison Litigation Reform Act

The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) is a law that was passed by the United States Congress in 1996. The law was created to limit the amount of lawsuits filed by inmates in federal prisons.

The law has many rules that make it difficult for inmates to file lawsuits. For example, inmates are required to exhaust all of their administrative remedies before filing a lawsuit. This means that they have to try and resolve their complaints through the prison grievance process before taking legal action.

Additionally, the law limits the amount of damages that an inmate can be awarded in a lawsuit. Inmates are also required to pay a filing fee, which can be expensive for those who do not have a lot of money.

The PLRA was created because there were concerns that many inmates were filing frivolous lawsuits, which were wasting the time and resources of the courts. The law was intended to weed out these kinds of cases and make sure that only legitimate complaints were heard in court.

Overall, the Prison Litigation Reform Act is a law that makes it harder for inmates to file lawsuits against prisons, but also aims to prevent the courts from becoming overwhelmed with frivolous lawsuits.