Since third grade, Levi Harris has wanted to be a lawyer or judge, always carrying a deep sense of fairness. Now, entering his third and final year at law school, Harris has taken full advantage of his time at Miami Law, turning a class project into a guide to prisoners' rights law that will be released this September by the Prisoners Legal Advocacy Network.
"Unfortunately," Harris says, "prisoners are out of sight and out of mind, leaving their rights vulnerable to infringement. This distressing fact became evident as I investigated conditions of prison confinement while working with PLAN."
PLAN is a coalition of jailhouse lawyers, attorneys, presently and formerly incarcerated individuals, and other advocates who seek to address the unmet legal needs of incarcerated people. Harris began his work with PLAN after his first year at Miami Law, clerking for the organization as they investigated the conditions of prison confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic. Finding the work interesting and meaningful, Harris continued volunteering for PLAN over school breaks.
This past spring, Harris took a Legal Research Techniques course, a class he recommends to all Miami Law students. Assigned to create a research pathfinder for his chosen topic, Harris picked prisoners' rights, a simple choice. By the end of the semester, Harris began to think that his guide could be of use beyond the classroom. He approached his mentors at PLAN and suggested the guide could be helpful to new law clerks and pro se litigants. Supportive of the idea, PLAN clerks, attorneys, and jailhouse lawyers helped Harris expand his guide with additional research tools, visual aids, and explanations of legal concepts.
"It has been a great learning experience, and I am tremendously thankful for all those who helped me along the way," Harris says.
In addition to his pro-bono work at PLAN, Harris is a Dean's Merit Scholarship Recipient, serves as the historian of the Cannabis Law League, and participates in Miami Law's Innocence Clinic.
Harris has found the Miami Law community to be "incredibly warm and welcoming," especially after moving down to South Florida from Michigan. Harris said his time at Miami Law has been marked by great friends and courses taught by tremendous professors. "I love being a 'Cane," he said.
Harris's guide will help attorneys, law students, and jailhouse lawyers conduct legal research and is included among the cost-free holdings of PLAN's Jailhouse Law Library and is available for digital download. PLAN will also mail hard copies to jailhouse lawyers nationwide at no cost. The guide will be used in a legal research skills course in one prison, which may expand to other facilities.
"Prisoners face a great disparity in availability of resources, as compared to the government," Harris explained. "Legal research can be complex and tedious, even for those with training. I wrote the legal research guide in the hopes that it would make research a little less daunting for prisoners seeking to protect their rights."
After graduating this upcoming spring, Harris plans to sit for the Michigan Bar Exam. He hopes to practice in the criminal law field and continue advocating for prisoners' rights in a pro-bono capacity.
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