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For years, Dickler and her staff had received letters from prisoners around the state who were desperate to settle domestic matters but would inevitably hit a wall while attempting to draft a petition themselves, pay filing fees, or serve a spouse with papers. Most of them were women, who make up the fastest-growing segment of the prison population and who have, in some cases, unique legal needs. Women, for example, often have complicated child-visitation or guardianship cases. They also get fewer visitors from family than men do, according to legal-aid experts, which can translate to them having fewer advocates helping them negotiate red tape from the outside. That effort becomes more difficult the lower prisoners fall on the income ladder. According to a 2015 report , the median pre-incarceration income of a state prisoner was just $19,185 in 2014; for incarcerated women, it was $13,890. Add to that the inflexible requirements many courts have about physically appearing, and the barriers to settling legal matters can become insurmountable. Take an incarcerated woman in Cook County like the one whose testimony I watched: If her spouse doesn’t respond to her divorce filing, she’ll need to get a court date for a hearing to finalize the divorce, known as the “prove up.” She can’t get a court date unless she shows up in person to request one from the clerk. She can’t show up in person unless she receives a writ to leave prison. And she can’t get a writ unless she can show there’s already a court date on the books. What’s more: “In cases like divorce, if you’re not present on the last day and don’t have an attorney—and most people who are incarcerated don’t—you cannot complete the divorce,” said Alexis Mansfield, a supervising attorney with Cabrini Green Legal Aid, the nonprofit group representing litigants pro bono during Dickler’s bimonthly calls.
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