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The article analyzes the growing place of law in prison and the ways in which prison actors can use it. How can the law take its proper place in an organization accustomed to opaqueness and arbitrary power? The forms of this process of “judicialization” are analyzed here, particularly the recognition of inmates’ rights, the increasing number of appeals, and the presence of lawyers, judges, and mediators in prisons. For inmates, as well guardians, law represents a resource, but also a risk. It has concrete effects on professional practices and, more widely, on prison relations. In the context of a crisis of legitimacy, the prison institution is certainly modified by the law, but how far can its transformation go?