In 1996, Congress passed the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), which has been seen by many critics as unfairly limiting inmate access to the federal court system. The PLRA contains five major provisions:

1. Prisoners must exhaust internal prison grievance procedures before they file suit in federal court.

2. Prisoners must pay their own court filing fees, either in one payment or in a series of monthly installments.

3. Courts have the right to dismiss any prisoner's lawsuit which they find to be either "frivolous," "malicious" or stating an improper claim. Each time a court makes this determination, the case can be thrown out of court and the prisoner can have a "strike" issued against them. Once the inmate receives three "strikes," they can no longer file another lawsuit unless they pay the entire court filing fee up front.

   Note : If the inmate is in risk of immediate and serious physical injury, the three strike rule may be waived.

4. Prisoners cannot file a claim for mental or emotional injury unless they can show that they also suffered a physical injury.

5. Prisoners risk losing credit for good time if a judge decides that a lawsuit was filed for the purpose of harassment, that the inmate lied, or that the inmate presented false information.