Sam Bankman-Fried, convicted in a multi-billion-dollar cryptocurrency fraud, is reported to be serving as a “jailhouse lawyer” at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. He has provided legal advice to other inmates, including Sean Combs and former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernandez.
I am an attorney and have served time in prison. I witnessed inmates spending every moment inside the prison library accessing computers and combing through court decisions. These inmates hold themselves out as jailhouse lawyers. The law library is their sanctuary where they search for ways to get released but also prey on other inmates who look to them for their freedom.
A jailhouse lawyer’s hustle is commonplace. He speaks with an inmates who come to the library, promotes himself as knowledgeable about the law, and assures the inmate that he can help him get his conviction set aside. Most of these jailhouse lawyers have no formal legal training, frequently are serving sentences for violent crimes, and while their so-called legal advice is often flawed, their pitch, like a snake-oil salesman’s, is greeted with trust and hope
To be sure, many of these jailhouse lawyers develop a keen understanding of the Federal Bureau of Prisons or the State prison systems and may provide some assistance to inmates in parole or other administrative hearings. But they usually lack an understanding of court procedures.
I was often asked to review legal submissions prepared by these jailhouse lawyers. They were almost always much too long, incorporated dense or flowery language lifted from court decisions, and plagiarized from documents prepared by attorneys.
On occasion, a jailhouse lawyer may be able to identify a legal issue that the trial attorney missed and prepare a filing that might assist their client-inmate in obtaining relief. But that is very rare. Over my many years observing this process, I can say with confidence that the success rate is less than 1%.
But the jailhouse lawyer will never say to a prospective client, “You cannot win.” Instead, they offer hope. And the inmate pays them for that hope. On average, it would be about $250 for the preparation of a legal document but could be as high as $1,000. Inmates who have no access to currency will pay into the prison’s barter system, or arrangements are made for someone outside the prison to send money to the jailhouse lawyer’s “Commissary Account.”
One might ask, “Why would an inmate hire a jailhouse lawyer when the likely outcome is zero?” Because you likely have limited funds to engage a private attorney, and the submission provides hope. Hope is crucial to making it through prison. Some inmates believe that the mere filing of documents with the clerk of the court constitutes a validation of the value of the jailhouse lawyer.
Sadly, in reviewing many inmate documents I found that their attorney had seriously failed them. However, the attorney’s failure to raise an important legal issue or fail to make an objection doomed the claim.
Attorneys do not have all the answers. But they are trained and licensed to give legal advice. Taking legal advice from a jailhouse lawyer almost always fails and gives vulnerable persons false hopes. As a wise man said, a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. An incomplete understanding of anything can lead to false expertise, overconfidence, and poor decisions.
So be wary of jailhouse lawyers.
Robert Simels hosts a podcast, “Injustice for All,” that addresses flaws in the criminal justice system and offers guidance for those affected.
