The volume of pro se inmate litigation and its drain on judicial system resources has been a long standing concern. Legislation has been passed on the federal and state level to attempt to deter frivolous lawsuits by inmates.
Inmates bring pro se civil suits against a variety of individuals and entities.
I only have statistics pertaining to pro se inmate suits against the Colorado Department of Corrections and its Executive Director. DOC is presently the defendant in approximately three hundred pro se inmate suits per year. That is down from approximately four hundred suits per year a few years ago. Approximately eighty per cent of the cases are filed in federal court and generally involve a habeas corpus petition, an alleged violation of civil rights, or alleged unconstitutional conditions of confinement. The remainder are filed in state court and typically involve a property issue.