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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:
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- Sixth Circuit: Qualified Immunity Granted to Guard in Delayed Treatment for Prisoner who Suffered Heart Attack, Oct. 1, 2026. Pain, Cardiovascular, Failure to Treat, Qualified Immunity, Deliberate Indifference.
- Ninth Circuit Rules Favorably for Washington Prisoner Whose Writing Submission Was Censored, Oct. 1, 2026. Retaliation, Qualified Immunity, Mail Regulations, Censorship, First Amendment, rights.
- Eighth Circuit Reverses District Court’s Denial of Motion to Dismiss Some Defendants from Lawsuit Over Missouri Prisoner’s Suicide, Oct. 1, 2026. Qualified Immunity, Sovereign Immunity, Failure to Protect (Wrongful Death), Suicides, Deliberate Indifference.
- $4,000 Awarded to Ohio Prisoner for Denied Records Requests, Oct. 1, 2026. Damages, Retroactivity, Public Records Act, Statutory Construction/Interpretation.
- Second Circuit Affirms Denial of Qualified Immunity but Clarifies that 14th Amendment ‘Objective Reasonableness’ Is Standard of Review for Pretrial Detainee’s Claim of Sexual Abuse, Oct. 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Qualified Immunity, Fourteenth Amendment, rights, Pretrial Detention and Detainees, Wrongful Use of Force.
- Eighth Circuit Grants Summary Judgment to Sheriff and County of Nebraska Jail Where Guard Sexually Assaulted Female Prisoner, Oct. 1, 2026. Staff-Prisoner Assault, Failure to Protect (General), Qualified Immunity, Failure to Train/Supervise, Monell Liability.
- 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.