Facts

Plaintiff Prison Legal News is a publisher and book distributor. Plaintiff publishes and distributes a monthly newsletter, as well as many book titles. The newsletter has thousands of subscribers across the country, including lawyers, libraries, members of the general public, and persons incarcerated in prisons and jails.

The Ventura County Jail began restricting incoming mail to postcards only, blocking incoming correspondence from Prison Legal News to subscribers and potential subscribers.

Prison Legal News sued to overturn the postcard policy as unduly restrictive of its speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

PLAINTIFF'S CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiff argued that postcard-only policies do not increase prison and jail security. On the contrary, they threaten prison and jail security by depriving inmates of rehabilitative and stabilizing contact with the community. Plaintiff argued that prisons and jails around the country have addressed problems of contraband hidden in envelope mail without restricting incoming mail to postcards.

In addition to the postcard policy, Prison Legal News material had been blocked on the grounds that jail inmates were prohibited from ordering books and magazines, and on the grounds that jail inmates were not allowed to receive materials printed from the Internet, such as printouts of recent case law.

Prison Legal News claimed that postcard-only policies violate the First Amendment rights of publishers, family members, clergy and others to correspond with persons held in prisons and jails. Although the U.S. Supreme Court has allowed some limitation of First Amendment rights in prisons and jails, such limitations must be evaluated by courts to determine whether they serve the security functions claimed, and whether the allow alternative avenues of communication.

Plaintiff also claimed violations of the Fourteenth Amendment right to due process, as Prison Legal News did not receive notice and an opportunity to contest the decision to keep its publications and correspondence out of the jail.

DEFENDANT'S CONTENTIONS:
Defendants contended that it had changed some of the policies and procedures that had led to blocking of Prison Legal News publications, and that in some instances publications were blocked in error. Defendants, however, argued that the postcard policy was not unduly restrictive of free speech rights, was justified, and should be allowed to remain in force.

Result

The court issued a preliminary injunction in June 2014, finding that the postcard-only policy violated the First Amendment, and prohibiting its further enforcement as to Prison Legal News and as to all others who seek to correspond with inmates at the jail. Then the parties settled for $350,000 and a permanent injunction, to resolve damages and attorney fees for the litigation. The permanent injunction prohibits the restriction of incoming mail to postcards, requires new policies and procedures for incoming mail, staff training, and retention of jurisdiction to allow for monitoring and enforcement.

Other Information

MEDIATOR: U.S. Magistrate Judge Jay C. Gandhi. FILING DATE: Jan. 31, 2014.