Matthew Lyskawa is a legal scholar whose scholarship examines constitutional, philosophical, and theological problems surrounding the treatment afforded incarcerated individuals in the United States. One strand of his work explores philosophical issues arising in constitutional prison law, especially Eighth Amendment prison conditions jurisprudence. Another examines what the nature of prevailing constitutional prison law reveals about our collective relationship to God. Matthew also has long standing interests in the history of U.S. imprisonment, especially convict leasing and Progressive Era penological reforms. His first law review article offers the first comprehensive account of how lower federal courts adjudicate Eighth Amendment prison staff-to-sentenced prisoner sexual violence claims.
Before starting at Duke, Matthew was a litigation associate at a large law firm in Washington D.C. where he worked on clemency petitions, sentence reduction petitions, and compassionate releases. While an associate, Matthew volunteered as a chaplain at the Washington D.C. Jail.
Matthew is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Philosophy at Harvard. He received a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Rochester. He transferred to Rochester after two years at Mt. San Antonio College, a community college in Los Angeles County. In his free time, he enjoys doing stand-up comedy, playing soccer, and hosting a prison studies book club. Matthew is a proud first generation college student.
