PRISON INMATES WIN A BATTLE; PEERS WILL TRY

Inmates at the Utah State Prison have won a lawsuit over legal representation for inmates, and Salt Lake County Jail inmates have now filed a similar suit.

U.S. Magistrate Ronald Boyce ruled this week that the state must provide inmates with more legal assistance than it has been providing for the past 14 years. Inmates now can get a lawyer to help appeal convictions or file a civil rights complaint.Boyce ruled the state must also provide legal assistance for inmates in a case involving any fundamental right. That includes small claims complaints, divorces and parental rights.

Civil rights attorney Brian Barnard says the ruling is a step in the right direction but wishes Boyce had gone further. "Judge Boyce ruled that the state must provide legal assistance only in filing an initial complaint or an answer to a complaint. That's not enough. For example, an inmate files a complaint. The state files a motion to dismiss with a lengthy memorandum supporting the motion. Now the inmate has no resource to respond. So you are setting the inmate up."

Will he appeal? "We got half of what we asked for. You usually don't appeal when you win, but we might. Or we might wait for the next case to come along and then try to expand what the state must do."

Barnard may not appeal, but the state will. "We think we have some sound arguments," said Assistant Utah Attorney General Frank My-lar.

Prison officials don't know yet how much Boyce's ruling might cost taxpayers. "We don't think it will have that much of an impact," said Jack Ford, spokesman for the prison. The prison currently pays approximately $100,000 to a Provo law firm to provide limited legal assistance to inmates in the Draper and Gunnison facilities.

Taxpayers may not feel the cost right away. The state may ask Boyce for an order postponing enforcement of his ruling until the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals reviews Boyce's decision, Mylar said.

Two days after Boyce ruled, inmates at the Salt Lake County Jail filed suit challenging their limited legal representation.

Both the prison and the jail had a choice of providing inmates with a lawyer's assistance or access to a law library. The jail decided to provide inmates with a law library.

But, as with the prison, only inmates who are filing civil rights claims or appealing their convictions can use the law library. Inmates involved in divorces, child custody cases and other matters cannot.