This guide covers litigation about jail and prison conditions from the grievance form to the consent decree. It begins with the Prison Litigation Reform Act, because exhaustion, screening, filing fees, the three-strikes rule, and the physical injury requirement determine whether a claim is ever heard. It then sets out the substantive standards: excessive force, medical and mental health care, failure to protect, conditions, and the different rules that apply to pretrial detainees. It covers due process in discipline and classification, religious exercise under RLUIPA, disability accommodation, access to courts, mail and communication, and retaliation. It identifies the proper defendants, including private contractors, and distinguishes claims that must proceed in habeas. Damages, injunctive relief, fee caps, and systemic litigation close it out.