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Legal Mail May Not be Read
Loaded on Aug. 15, 1991
published in Prison Legal News
August, 1991, page 4
Legal Mail May Not Be Read
Filed under:
Attorney Client,
Civil Procedure,
Damages,
Qualified Immunity,
Legal Mail.
Location:
Florida.
A Florida prisoner filed suit under § 1983 after a letter from his attorney, addressed to him and marked "legal mail," was opened and read in his presence by a prison guard. The guard confiscated the letter and an attached newspaper clipping. The letter …
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More from this issue:
- A Lesson From Japan, by Dan Pens
- The United States Supreme Court: Petition for Writ of Certiori, by Wm Daniel Ravenscroft
- Drug Profits Fund Prison
- Walla Walla 'Lifers With Hope'
- Mass. Corrections Policy "Disaster" Says Task Force
- Texas Prison Officials Indicted
- Mail Rejection Not Upheld
- Informants Must Be Reliable
- Prison Visitors May Not Be Searched Without Probable Cause
- Prisoners Entitled to Exculpatory Evidence In Disciplinary Hearings
- Legal Mail May Not be Read
- Prisoners Must Be Fed
- From The Editor, by Paul Wright
- Magistrates May Hear Prison Cases
- Grievance System Does Not Create Liberty Interest
- Reviews
- Justice for Jimmy Haynes?, by John Perotti
- PLN Banned in France, by Paul Wright
- The Ex Post Facto Clause and Washington's Parole Board, by Ed Mead
- California Prison Construction, by Ruth Cashmere
- Be a Rat or Else!
More from these topics:
- Eight Circuit Reverses Denial of Partial Qualified Immunity in Detainee’s Pepper Ball Claim, Remands Excessive Force Claims, Sept. 1, 2026. Guard Brutality/Beatings, Stun Guns/Tasers, Pepper Spray/Tear Gas, Qualified Immunity, Wrongful Use of Force.
- Fourth Circuit Affirms Qualified Immunity in Strip Searches Resulting from Anonymous Tips, Sept. 1, 2026. Strip Searches, Qualified Immunity, Fourth Amendment, rights, Suspicionless Searches.
- Michigan DOC Legal Payouts Top $7 Million in FY 2025, Less than One Percent of $2.15 Billion Operating Budget, Sept. 1, 2026. Statistics/Trends, Cost of Prison Systems, Damages, Settlements.
- Ninth Circuit Revives HRDC Challenge to Washington DOC Mail Restrictions, Aug. 1, 2026. Qualified Immunity, Publications/Books, Due Process, Censorship, First Amendment, rights.
- Detroit Pays $5.8 Million to Former State Prisoner Exonerated of Murder After 15 Years, Aug. 1, 2026. Wrongful Conviction, Qualified Immunity, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Eyewitness Identification, Evidence - Failure to Disclose.
- Seventh Circuit Grants Qualified Immunity to Detectives Who Revealed Prisoner Was Informant, Denies Him Anonymity, Aug. 1, 2026. Failure to Protect (General), Physical Injury Rule, Qualified Immunity, Informants (Failure to Protect), 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights.
- Sixth Circuit Affirms Denial of State-Law Qualified Immunity in Scabies Case, Aug. 1, 2026. Corizon, Systemic Medical Neglect, Contagious Disease -- Misc., Qualified Immunity, Deliberate Indifference.
- Fourth Circuit Revives Disabled Prisoner’s Claim for Denial of Out-of-Cell Exercise Time, Aug. 1, 2026. Totality of Conditions, Eighth Amendment, Exercise, Summary Judgment, Qualified Immunity.
- Oregon Reaches $49 Million Settlement with State Prisoners in COVID-19 Class-Action, Aug. 1, 2026. COVID-19, Eighth Amendment, Settlements, Class Certification, Qualified Immunity.
- Oregon Supreme Court: Jail Credit Statute Focuses Upon Legal Custody Not Physical Custody Location, July 1, 2026. Civil Procedure, Sentencing, Appeals/Appellate Jurisdiction, Criminal Justice, Statutory Construction/Interpretation.

