Address
Jailhouse Lawyer Initiative
In c/o Tyler Walton Esq.
139 MacDougal St. Suite B20
New York, NY 10012
Key Links
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Jailhouse Lawyers are Community Paralegals
The Jailhouse Lawyer Initiative (JLI) is the home of more than 1,500 incarcerated jailhouse lawyers—people who study, practice, and teach the law from inside prison walls. Born out of Jhody Polk’s 2018 Soros Justice Fellowship, JLI is now housed at the Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at NYU School of Law and is a project of the Legal Empowerment and Advocacy Hub (LEAH). JLI operates as a three-strand cord—weaving together the lived expertise and practice of jailhouse lawyers; the advocacy and training of lawyers, including law students; and the institutional accountability of law schools and prisons.
Using Participatory Action Research (PAR), JLI brings these three strands into a shared process of asking questions, generating knowledge, and designing solutions together. This collaboration leads to concrete change through co-created legal education, advocacy strategies, and pathways for jailhouse lawyers to return their knowledge and skills to their communities during and after incarceration. JLI also engages in Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) to understand and support the unique needs of its women and non-gender-conforming members.
At its core, JLI invests in jailhouse lawyers as community paralegals, recognizing them as human rights defenders who provide legal support and mentorship to their peers and who shape strategies for justice from the inside out. Through its organizational home, LEAH, JLI is reimagining the role of paralegals in the U.S.—building new paralegal career pathways, accredited community paralegal programs, and worker co-ops that strengthen community legal knowledge and access to justice. Together, JLI and LEAH are not only shifting how the law is taught and practiced, but also expanding who gets to participate in shaping a just legal system.
Join The Jailhouse Lawyer Initiative
Are you a Jailhouse Lawyer or know a currently incarcerated Jailhouse Lawyer? Become a member of the JLI Today. Lawyers, Law Students, Law Schools and Allies are also welcome to join JLI as an outside member. Sign up for membership to the JLI Today HERE.
What we do
Legal Education
The JLI is dedicated to ensuring that Jailhouse Lawyers receive adequate legal education and access to continuing education, including legal empowerment and community peace building skills. The JLI uses a Participatory Action Research (PAR) to co-create legal education materials with Lawyers, Law Students, Jailhouse Lawyers and other essential actors in the legal ecosystem.
Visibility
The JLI is dedicated to ensuring that Jailhouse Lawyers are recognized as Human Rights Defenders, Community Paralegals and essential members of the legal ecosystem. The JLI convenes Flashlights, a digital public facing archive that hosts the lives, voices and letters of more than 300 incarcerated Jailhouse Lawyers. Flashlights also includes a living timeline that showcases the impact that Jailhouse Lawyers have had on the law, community and society for generations.
Returning Legal Skills to Community
The JLI is dedicated to supporting Jailhouse Lawyers returning their legal knowledge and empowerment back to their communities during and after incarceration. Through LEAH, Jailhouse Lawyers are able to receive the education, training and resources to become community paralegals. The JLI also supports our members with navigating pathways to law school to become lawyers.