You are a lawyer for the non-profit Prisoners' Legal Services of Northwest Southland. Kold Klink Prison is managed and staffed by the Private Prison Corp. of America. You've received a complaint from a 19-year-old, somewhat naive inmate, Henry Hapless, who has an IQ that borders on intellectual disability. He's in prison on drug-possession charges. He has a lover on the outside, and he tells you he is anxious over the fact that his lover is complaining that Henry does not write. Henry insists that he has been writing, but he thinks his mail is being intercepted by a guard, Hal Oween.

Henry confides in you that he is having sexual relations with Oween. Although he doesn't really object to this relationship because he feels it affords him certain privileges, including protection from abuse by other inmates, Henry believes that the guard is intercepting his letters to his lover on the outside because of jealousy. He doesn't want to file a grievance about his mail because he fears retaliation by the guard and the prison administration itself. He asks you whether he can write to his lover during your tutorial sessions, and he asks you to mail the letters.

Although inmates can be dishonest and manipulative, you sympathize with this vulnerable young man and tend to believe this story. You feel that his anxiety over losing his lover is not healthy and that maintaining contact will be important to maintaining a stable state of mind and eventually help him succeed on the outside.

Should you mail the letters? What if the lover asks you to bring letters into the prison?

If you encourage him to file a grievance, or if you intervene on his behalf, you are fairly certain that there will be repercussions. You've heard, for instance -- from other employees of the corporation, not just inmates -- that inmates' grievances are usually discredited and that grievants are often punished for filing them, sometimes in segregated housing units. Should you pursue this route?

If you bring a lawsuit against Oween and the prison corporation, can you claim constitutional violations? Is there state action? Does the law of agency apply; i.e., is the corporation the agent of the state?