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Qualified Immunity Granted in Mail Inspection Case

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Qualified Immunity, Mail, Mail Regulations, Due Process, Legal Mail

Qualified Immunity Granted in Mail Inspection Case by A federal court in Nevada held that since the constitutionality of prison procedures governing the opening of prisoner mail was unclear, prison officials enjoyed qualified immunity with respect to the opening of a piece of mail from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, …

Third Circuit Upholds "Publisher Only" Rule

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Mail, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations

Third Circuit Upholds "Publisher Only" Rule by Third Circuit Upholds "Publisher Only" Rule The Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Delaware prisoner's affidavit was insufficient to controvert a prison warden's affidavit, justifying a publisher-only policy. In the district court the prisoner responded to prison officials' motion for summary …

New York Prison Censorship Rules Invalidated

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Sexually Explicit Materials, Mail Regulations, Media, Censorship

New York Prison Censorship Rules Invalidated by In a class action suit, a federal district court in New York held that "[i]n order to be constitutionally acceptable, a regulation may permit suppression of sexually oriented material only if the material comports with a standard of obscenity defined by the courts …

Prison Officials Must Support Mail Policy With Evidence

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Mail, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations

Prison Officials Must Support Mail Policy With Evidence by The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held in an Alabama case that "Alabama must show how applying its sweeping regulation [prohibiting prisoners in segregation from sending or receiving mail from other prisoners] . . . furthers its legitimate penological objectives. Alabama's …

Limitations on Indigent Mail Reasonable, Paroled Prisoner's Interest Moot

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Court Access, Standing, Mail Regulations, Postage, Legal Mail

Limitations on Indigent Mail Reasonable, Paroled Prisoner's Interest Moot by The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit held that, a prison's effort to balance a prisoner's right to indigent mail with budgetary considerations was valid and that one prisoner's interest in the case was moot due to his …

Ninth Circuit Invalidates Sexually Explicit Photograph/Publication Ban

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Mail, Photos, Publications/Books, Sexually Explicit Materials, Mail Regulations

Ninth Circuit Invalidates Sexually Explicit Photograph/Publication Ban by In 1982, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a Montana prison rule prohibiting nude photographs was too broad and that less restrictive alternatives existed. The court also held that a ban on sexually explicit magazines such as Hustler violated the …

Ninth Circuit Upholds Washington Legal Mail Inspection Rule

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Mail, Mail Regulations, Legal Mail

Ninth Circuit Upholds Washington Legal Mail Inspection Rule by The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an order of a Washington state superior court, requiring a contraband inspection of all mail from prisoners to that court. "In April, 1977, the Superior Court for Walla Walla County, issued a prison mail …

Eighth Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment on Segregation Mail Ban

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Mail, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations, Due Process

Eighth Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment on Segregation Mail Ban by The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed an Arkansas district court judgment granting summary judgment to prison officials in a case involving the denial of mail privileges to segregated prisoners. The court noted that the district court acknowledged that the …

Tenth Circuit Upholds Injunction Against Juvenile Mail Censorship

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Attorney Fee Awards, Mail Regulations, Juveniles, Juvenile Prisons

Tenth Circuit Upholds Injunction Against Juvenile Mail Censorship by The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a district court's holding that a Utah private school for youths with behavioral problems violated the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the students by monitoring and censoring their outgoing mail and forcing the …

2nd Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment on Incoming Mail Censorship

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Mail, Mail Regulations

2nd Circuit Reverses Summary Judgment on Incoming Mail Censorship by The Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a New York District Court's grant of summary judgment to prison officials concerning the reading of a federal prisoner's incoming mail. The court noted that "[n]o issue has been raised . . . …

Georgia Prison Censorship Rules Violate Procunier Standard

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Mail, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations, Due Process

Georgia Prison Censorship Rules Violate Procunier Standard by A federal court in Georgia held that a prison's mail censorship rules were invalid under Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 396, 94 S.Ct. 1800 (1974). The court held that the practice of intercepting outgoing letters that prison officials "believed were misleading" or …

Prison Magazine Censorship Reversed

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Mail, Sexually Explicit Materials, Mail Regulations, Censorship

Prison Magazine Censorship Reversed by The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that prison officials violated a South Dakota prisoner's constitutional rights by refusing to allow him to receive a magazine entitled Mature. In rejecting the magazine prison officials stated: "the magazine has absolutely no rehabilitative value. It is nothing …

Ohio Prisoner Mail Censorship Rule Violates Due Process

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Mail, Mail Regulations, Due Process

Ohio Prisoner Mail Censorship Rule Violates Due Process by The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an Ohio prison regulation authorizing the censorship of incoming prisoner mail was not unconstitutionally overbroad on its face but that it did violate due process. An Ohio prisoner's incoming mail, written on Ku …

Prison Ban on Writing Religious Leaders Invalidated, Muslim Magazine Allowed

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Publications/Books, Mail Regulations, Religious Freedom, Religious Property, Clergy

Prison Ban on Writing Religious Leaders Invalidated, Muslim Magazine Allowed by The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an Atlanta federal penitentiary policy of not allowing prisoners to correspond with religious leaders was unconstitutional and remanded for an order allowing such correspondence. The court also held that Black Muslim …

Ban on Writing Minors Without Parental Consent Invalidated

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Mail Regulations, Juveniles

Ban on Writing Minors Without Parental Consent Invalidated by A federal court in California held that a California prison rule prohibiting prisoners from corresponding with minors whom they were not related by blood or marriage without the prior consent of the minors' parents was unnecessarily broad and invalid under the …

Sender of Mail Entitled to Due Process Protections

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Retaliation for Litigating, Prisoner Legal Assistance, Mail, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations, Due Process

Sender of Mail Entitled to Due Process Protections by In a New York case, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals noted that the "intermediate scrutiny standard" of Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S. 396, 94 S.Ct. 1800 (1974) "seeks to protect the 'inextricably meshed' rights of both the writer and the …

Difference Between Nonprofit and Regular Bulk Rate Mail

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Mail, Publications/Books, Mail Regulations, Postage

Difference Between Nonprofit and Regular Bulk Rate Mail by The Second Circuit Court of Appeals noted in a New York case that pursuant to the Domestic mail manual, "non-profit organizations . . . are afforded the opportunity to make bulk third-class mailings at special, discounted, bulk third-class rates" if it …

Prisoner Had Standing to Enforce Consent Decree

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Standing, Consent Decrees, Immunity/Liability, Eleventh Amendment Immunity, Mail Regulations

Prisoner Had Standing to Enforce Consent Decree by The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held 265 prisoners of the Arizona Department of Corrections have standing to enforce a 1973 consent decree even though none of those prisoners was a party to the 1973 suit. The court held that prisoners are …

Second Circuit Approves Inspection of Outgoing Business Mail

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Mail, Mail Regulations

Second Circuit Approves Inspection of Outgoing Business Mail by The Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a New York prison rule requiring that outgoing business mail be submitted unsealed and subject to inspection. The court found that the rule advanced the legitimate penological interest of preventing prisoners "from committing fraud …

Eighth Circuit Upholds Outgoing Mail Ban

Article • May 15, 2007

Filed under: Mail, Mail Regulations

Eighth Circuit Upholds Outgoing Mail Ban by The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Missouri prison policy authorizing an outgoing mail restriction on mail addressed to parties who have indicated that they do not wish to receive mail from a prisoner. Following Finney v. Arkansas Bd. of Corrections, 505 …