As someone who became a 'jailhouse lawyer' I disagree. Once you understand the basics it's pretty understandable, and it's self documenting with our use of case law. Now, the fact that to read the cases, which are the texts of 'the law' since we use case law and you have to pay a fortune to Lexus Nexus should be illegal. If the text of the cases ARE the law of the land (which the whole case law thing demonstrates is the case) then the laws of the land should not be allowed to be locked up behind a paywall. Free access to Lexus Nexus in prison shows it is REQUIRED for fair access to the legal system (they don't give you anything they aren't constitutionally required to in prison), yet prison is the only place you get 'free' access (I mean, I paid for it via the loss of freedom, opportunity, days of my life, etc).

... Do inmates get free access to LexisNexis?

Maybe? They have an offering for prisons: https://www.lexisnexis.com/en-us/corrections/default.page

In the Feds yes.

However, if say you wanted to offer your help to someone else, you would in fact be breaking the law. You cannot represent other people or offer legal advice without first spending 200 grand on a degree. I agree that the US should offer an equivalent alternative to Lexus Nexus. The law should never be behind a paywall.

The prisons and terms of my supervised release were required to allow me to continue helping inmates I had been helping previously (making an acception to the condition that I not associate with felons and requiring the prison to allow such correspondence). I wonder if that small crack that gives court recognized and enforced legal protection to me continuing to practice law without a degree could be used to break this gatekeeping?

You weren't representing yourself as a lawyer, with them or in court. I'm assuming that's both the potential problem and the work around.

I wrote their motions to the court, helped them file them, etc. I got a dozen people released during COVID, and those with lawyers adopted some of my work for their other cases. Sure seemed like 'lawyering' :)