2020 Georgia Code
Title 42 - Penal Institutions
Chapter 12 - Prison Litigation Reform
§ 42-12-1. Short Title
This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996."
(Code 1981, §42-12-1, enacted by Ga. L. 1996, p. 400, § 1.)
Law reviews.- For review of 1996 prison litigation reform legislation, see 13 Ga. U. L. Rev. 280 (1996).
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Previously dismissed federal lawsuits not counted under three strikes provision.
- Trial court erred in ruling that an inmate's previously dismissed federal lawsuits counted as strikes under the three strikes provision of the Georgia Prison Litigation Reform Act, O.C.G.A. § 42-12-7.2, because lawsuits in federal district court did not qualify as strikes under the statute since the statute unambiguously included only courts created by the constitution and laws of Georgia. Wright v. Brown, 336 Ga. App. 1, 783 S.E.2d 405 (2016).
Blanket declaration forbidden.
- Constitution forbids courts to abridge inmates' rights to have meaningful access to and communications with the courts, and a blanket declaration that all filings would be "null and void by operation of law" was impermissible. Hooper v. Harris, 236 Ga. App. 651, 512 S.E.2d 312 (1999).
Failure to conduct hearing on prisoner's pauper's affidavit error.
- Trial court erred by failing to conduct a hearing on a prisoner's claim of indigence as the plain language of O.C.G.A. § 9-15-2(b) required a hearing before the court could order costs to be paid and there was nothing in the statute that allowed the court, on the court's own, to inquire into the truth of a pauper's affidavit to order the payment of court costs without a hearing. Lee v. Batchelor, 345 Ga. App. 559, 814 S.E.2d 416 (2018).
Cited in In the Interest of B.A.S., 254 Ga. App. 430, 563 S.E.2d 141 (2002); Heard v. Ashcroft, F. Supp. 2d (S.D. Ga. June 6, 2003); Owens v. Hill, 295 Ga. 302, 758 S.E.2d 794 (2014).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
ALR.
- Attorney's fees awards under § 803(d) of Prison Litigation Reform Act (42 U.S.C.A § 1997e(d)), 165 A.L.R. Fed. 551.
Validity, construction, and application of State Prison Litigation Reform Acts, 85 A.L.R.6th 229.
