The Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) is a U.S. federal law that was enacted in 1996.Congress enacted PLRA in response to a significant increase in prisoner litigation in the federal courts; the PLRA was designed to decrease the incidence of litigation within the court system.or the preceding 20 – 30 years, many prisons and jails in the United States had been enjoined to make certain changes based on findings that the conditions of these institutions violated the constitutional rights of inmates (in particular, freedom from cruel and unusual punishment or the right to due process).