jailhouse lawyer
noun
: a prison inmate self-taught in the law who tries to gain release through legal maneuvers or who advises fellow inmates on their legal problems
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web Everyone knew Cement Head: Cement Head the jailhouse lawyer, Cement Head of the bushy white Hulk Hogan biker mustache. 
STAT, 14 Apr. 2021 She was sentenced to a longer term — eight years in prison — and became a jailhouse lawyer there, unofficially defending prisoners. Nicholas Casey, New York Times, 16 Mar. 2020 Could the show have gotten away without the convolutions required to make Aaron an actual jailhouse lawyer, when Wright only got his degree and passed the bar after ending his incarceration? Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Feb. 2020 Haynes became something of a jailhouse lawyer, drawing inspiration from those whose convictions were being overturned because their cases were connected to disgraced Chicago police Cmdr. Jeff Coen, chicagotribune.com, 31 Oct. 2019 Clarissa couldn’t afford another attorney, so Ben persuaded a fellow-inmate, a jailhouse lawyer, to help him write a petition for a new trial, which Ben filed in January, 2014. Jennifer Gonnerman, The New Yorker, 19 May 2018 By then, Martinez had become an accomplished jailhouse lawyer. Bruce Rubenstein, The Atlantic, 9 Dec. 2017 See More
STAT, 14 Apr. 2021 She was sentenced to a longer term — eight years in prison — and became a jailhouse lawyer there, unofficially defending prisoners. Nicholas Casey, New York Times, 16 Mar. 2020 Could the show have gotten away without the convolutions required to make Aaron an actual jailhouse lawyer, when Wright only got his degree and passed the bar after ending his incarceration? Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 11 Feb. 2020 Haynes became something of a jailhouse lawyer, drawing inspiration from those whose convictions were being overturned because their cases were connected to disgraced Chicago police Cmdr. Jeff Coen, chicagotribune.com, 31 Oct. 2019 Clarissa couldn’t afford another attorney, so Ben persuaded a fellow-inmate, a jailhouse lawyer, to help him write a petition for a new trial, which Ben filed in January, 2014. Jennifer Gonnerman, The New Yorker, 19 May 2018 By then, Martinez had become an accomplished jailhouse lawyer. Bruce Rubenstein, The Atlantic, 9 Dec. 2017 See More Word History
First Known Use
1969, in the meaning defined above
Legal Definition
jailhouse lawyer
noun
: a prison inmate self-taught in the law who tries to gain release through legal maneuvers or who advises fellow inmates on their legal problems
- syncategoremata
- syncategorematic
- syncategorematically
- syncategoreme
- synced
- syncelli
- syncellus
- syncer
- syncerebral
- syncerebrum
- syncest
- synch
- synched
- synching
- synchisite
- synchondroses
- synchondrosial
- synchondrosially
- synchondrotomy
- synchoreses
- synchro
- synchro-shutter
- synchro-sunlight
- synchrocyclotron
- synchrocyclotrons