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Legal resources for people in prison in Oregon

Prison Law Office

General Delivery

San Quentin, CA 94964

http://www.prisonlaw.com


Serves: AZ,CA,OR


Focus area/description: The Prison Law Office (PLO) is a nonprofit public interest law firm based in Berkeley, California that strives to reduce incarceration and demands fair and humane treatment for people who remain in prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities and who are on parole. PLO engages in class action and other impact litigation in California, Arizona, and Oregon; advocates for policy and law changes; educates the public by creating and distributing self-help information; and lends technical assistance to other attorneys. PLO does not represent people in individual litigation, and its class action cases do not result in money damages. The most common issues that PLO litigates about are the failure to provide adequate medical, dental, and mental health services, lack of reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities, use of excessive force, racial discrimination, overcrowding, unsanitary living conditions, solitary confinement, and due process violations related to people's conditions of confinement. If you or a family member believe the Prison Law Office can assist with one of the above issues, please feel free to contact their office. Letters concerning individuals and prison conditions can be addressed to: Prison Law Office General Delivery San Quentin, CA 94964. Due to the large number of inquiries, the Prison Law Office cannot accept telephone calls.

Prison Law Office confirmed this listing on August 08, 2025.


These national self-help guides may be useful to people in prison in Oregon:

The Jailhouse Lawyers Manual is a free-to-print guide to legal rights and procedures designed for people in prison. It contains nine sections designed to help incarcerated people learn about their rights, file lawsuits in both state and federal court, attack their conviction or sentence, and address the conditions of their imprisonment. It also contains information about the rights of incarcerated people related to health, safety, religious freedom, and more. We suggest accessing the online version of the manual and mailing the relevant chapters to your incarcerated loved one.

The Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook is a free resource for people in prison who want to file a federal lawsuit addressing poor conditions in prison or abuse by prison staff. This guide will not help challenge convictions or sentences or provide guidance on actions in state courts. It also has 14 appendices that provide sample complaints, legal forms, and guidance on how to reach out to journalists, among other topics. You can download relevant chapters of the handbook and mail them to your incarcerated loved one or request to have a copy mailed to them.

The Prison Book Program produces a free legal resource for incarcerated people called the Insider’s Guide to Jailhouse Law. This guide provides a comprehensive and practical overview of the legal system, and it discusses important legal developments over the last two decades. It is available for free on their website in English and Spanish. You can email the Prison Book Program if you would like them to mail your loved one the guide.

A challenge to our colleagues:

We built the internet's first always-up-to-date list of legal services for incarcerated people. Can you make a similar list for a different kind of resource?

Problem: There are too many outdated resource lists floating around.

Our Solution: Have one resource list that one organization checks each year.

Our Method: Inspired by the Cincinnati Books for Prisoners group, we made a list of every legal services organization on every resource list we could find. Then we send a letter by snail mail to each organization each year asking them to confirm/update their listing. If they respond, we include them on the site for the next 365 days. All the organization needs to do is to sign the form we send them and mail it back in the enclosed envelope. If they don't respond, we keep them on our mailing list and try again next year.

This way, any incarcerated person using the list can be assured that the organization they are writing to recently did exist and was responding to mail. And if an organization fails to respond for some reason (staff turnover, postal problems, the dog ate our letter, etc.) they get another chance next year.

It's a win for everyone. We've built a database for legal services. What list can your organization edit?



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