By Robert Simels
Originally published in amNewYork on
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Starting from reports that the FTX founder convicted of cryptocurrency fraud has been acting as a jailhouse lawyer at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, Robert Simels explains how jailhouse lawyers operate. Writing from his own time in prison, he describes inmates who spend their days in the law library and present themselves as able to get other inmates' convictions overturned.
Most have no formal legal training, he writes, and while some learn a good deal about prison rules and can help with parole or administrative hearings, they usually do not understand court procedure. Simels was often asked to review their filings and found them far too long, full of language lifted from court decisions, and sometimes copied from lawyers' work. He estimates their success rate in court at less than 1 percent.
The appeal is hope. A jailhouse lawyer will not tell a client that he cannot win, and inmates pay for that hope, about $250 for a document on average and as much as $1,000, often through barter or commissary accounts. Simels also notes that in reviewing these cases, he often found the real problem was a trial lawyer's failure to raise an issue or object, a failure the jailhouse filing cannot cure. His advice is to be wary and to rely on trained, licensed counsel.
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This page is a summary prepared for robertsimels.com. The full commentary was published by amNewYork and remains on amNewYork's site.
Robert Simels. Robert Simels hosts the podcast Injustice for All and serves as a consultant on criminal justice matters. He is no longer practicing law.
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