The Prisons and Society collection reflects UC Irvine’s scholarly and policy impacts on the interrelated fields of justice, law, civil rights, social justice, and prison studies. The collection centers the voices of the incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, and exonerated, with emphasis on prisoner rights, prison administration, and political and social movements serving these communities. Foci include restorative justice, decarceration, and prison litigation and compliance. This is an evolving collecting area, initiated in 2022. Our collecting prioritizes potential impact on research needs of UCI faculty, staff, and students and emphasizes California and the U.S. West.
The California Prison Litigation Compliance Collection focuses on preparation for trials against the California Department of Corrections and subsequent work towards institutional compliance with court orders. These materials were gathered by Dr. Anthony C. Newland, retired Warden of Solano State Prison, and former Chief of the Court Management Services Branch during his forty-five-year career with the California Department of Corrections. Major topics of the collection include litigation around conditions of confinement, such as overcrowding, facility safety and cleanliness, and access to legal resources; physical and mental health care; and disability accommodation. The collection also includes Dr. Newland's teaching and research materials, files related to his consulting work, and historically significant materials related to the California Department of Corrections during the 1970s. Formats include born-digital documents such as PDFs, emails, text documents, videos, and audio recordings.