Human Rights Defense Center
DEDICATED TO PROTECTING HUMAN RIGHTS
November 19, 2014
Dear Human Rights Defender,
I want to thank you for your past support of Prison Legal News (PLN) and the Human Rights
Defense Center; we have had an exciting and successful year thus far in 2014!
You may not be aware that HRDC does much more than publish the magazine Prison Legal
News. When we first started in 1990, all we did was publish PLN. Since then we have gone on
to print and distribute books, litigate free speech, public records and wrongful death cases, and
advocate on behalf of prisoners and their families in various forums ranging from news media,
legislatures, conferences, protest events and administrative agencies, among others. All of our
activities are documented online in our annual reports, but the vast majority of our incarcerated
readers cannot review them because they lack Internet access. To remedy this we are attaching
our most recent annual report, which provides an overview of everything else we do in addition
to publishing PLN. As you will see, it’s quite a lot!
Your donation can and does make a difference in the work that we do. We receive virtually no
foundation funding. The work we are able to do on behalf of prisoners and their families depends
on individuals like you. Therefore, please make a donation to HRDC; all donations are welcome,
no matter how big or small, and we will maximize the impact your donation has. Please consider
becoming a monthly sustainer as well, using the enclosed form for credit card donors.
The attached annual report outlines what we did in 2013, a typical year for us. Thus far in 2014
our accomplishments include HRDC’s crucial involvement in the Federal Communications
Commission’s long-awaited decision to reduce prison phone rates; winning the first court case
in the nation striking down a jail’s postcard-only mail policy; and challenging censorship by
prison officials in Nevada and Florida. Further, PLN/HRDC successfully ended unconstitutional
censorship practices by jails in Ventura County, California; Lewis County, Washington; Comal
County, Texas; Kenosha County, Wisconsin; and St. Lucie County, Florida, and we filed suit
challenging illegal censorship by the San Diego County Sheriff. Plus we continued litigating
censorship cases against jails in Arizona, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee and Michigan.
PLN also won public records cases against Corrections Corporation of America in Texas and
Vermont, in an effort to bring the private prison industry under state public records laws. In both
cases, the courts agreed with our position that CCA was a government actor for public records
purposes and the company could not hide behind its private corporate status to claim otherwise.
In both cases CCA capitulated and chose not to appeal.

P.O. Box 1151, Lake Worth, FL 33460
(561) 360-2523
Email: pwright@prisonlegalnews.org

A federal district court in Kentucky also unsealed a confidential settlement between CCA and its
employees who were underpaid, after PLN filed a motion to intervene in the case.
HRDC continues to be in the forefront of cutting-edge First Amendment, free speech and public
records litigation around the country, bringing lawsuits against prisons and jails that no one else
is filing. And we are winning!
In addition to our core litigation around the First Amendment and public records laws, HRDC
also continues to successfully litigate impact cases around the deaths of prisoners. Since 2009
HRDC has represented the estates of prisoners in successful litigation to redress their deaths. To
date, all cases handled by HRDC have resolved on successful terms, many pre-litigation.
Earlier this year, HRDC settled the wrongful death case of a 26-year-old Washington state
prisoner who died of flesh-eating bacteria after prison medical staff ignored his pleas for help
and medical attention. HRDC also filed complaints with state regulatory authorities against
medical staff involved in his death. The settlement we obtained for the family in that case is
among the highest in Washington state history involving the death of a prisoner.
HRDC also settled a case on behalf of a former prisoner who was 18 years old and five months
pregnant in a Corrections Corporation of America-run jail in Tennessee when she began to suffer
cramps and bleeding. Rather than immediately send her to a hospital, CCA staff left her alone,
bleeding in a cell for several hours. She gave birth prematurely at the hospital and her baby died
shortly afterwards. Following several years of hard-fought litigation CCA agreed to settle the
lawsuit over the woman’s pain and suffering and the death of her baby.
All HRDC cases have a media and political strategy of seeking prison reform and highlighting
the injustices and corruption in the U.S. criminal justice system, while advocating for systemic
change to ensure prisoners have safe, humane and constitutional conditions of confinement.
Every year, dozens of media outlets around the country, including magazines, newspapers and
TV and radio stations, report stories from PLN, quote PLN and HRDC staff, cover our press
releases and invite us to sit on their panels and programs. Included in this mailing is a small
selection of the news coverage we’ve received. While HRDC is relatively small, our media
footprint is huge and we have a major impact on news coverage of criminal justice issues.
We want to increase our media work and expand our capacity to advocate on behalf of prisoners
and their families. This includes investigative reporting, media communications, litigation, and
legislative and administrative advocacy. The only thing that holds us back is lack of funding. If
you think the work we do makes a difference in the lives of people held in prisons, jails and
detention centers, then please make a donation. If you or your family members have saved
money on phone bills thanks to our advocacy before the FCC to cut prison and jail phone rates,
then please donate some of those savings so we can keep trying to push that phone bill down
even more.
All donations to HRDC make a difference. If you can become a monthly sustainer and donate a
small amount each month, it will go a long ways towards expanding our ability to tackle more
issues. Even if you cannot afford to make a donation to HRDC, if you know someone who can,
please encourage them to do so. You can also support HRDC by purchasing subscriptions to
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Prison Legal News for others, extending your subscription, getting your own subscription if you
read someone else’s copy and buying books from PLN.
We can’t do all the things we do without you and your financial support. It takes money to
advocate for systemic change, reform and justice, and if you believe in the work that we’re doing
– which is generally not being done by anyone else – then I hope you’ll take a moment to
make a tax-deductible donation to PLN/HRDC.
For example, in 2011, HRDC, in conjunction with the Center for Media Justice and Working
Narratives, formed the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice with the goal of ending exorbitant
rates for phone calls made by prisoners – rates that are mostly paid by prisoners’ families.
PLN has reported extensively on abuses within the prison phone industry. Our April 2011 and
December 2013 cover stories described the findings of comprehensive investigations into the
exploitive practices of prison phone companies – the first time anyone had ever compiled and
analyzed nationwide data on prison phone rates, costs and kickbacks to state prison systems. Our
research confirmed what we had long suspected: the “commission” kickbacks paid by prison
phone companies to corrections agencies result in inflated phone rates. In some states prisoners
or their families were paying more than $22 for a 20-minute call. Once this story broke, reporters
from around the nation relied on the data compiled by HRDC.
HRDC has taken the lead in a decade-long crusade to lower prison phone rates. I have personally
met with FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and her staff in Washington, D.C. During our
meetings, I explained the issues and concerns of prisoners and their families regarding exorbitant
prison phone rates. She was sympathetic and said the FCC needed to hear from stakeholders,
including prisoners and their family members. And that is exactly what happened after we ran
full-page ads in PLN encouraging prisoners and their families to contact the FCC.
In July 2014, HRDC associate director Alex Friedmann and I spoke on FCC workshop panels
on prison phone-related issues in Washington, D.C. Our message was simple: by lowering prison
phone rates, prisoners will stay better connected with their families while incarcerated and have
increased chances of success once they are released. After hearing this message, along with the
staggering statistic that 2.7 million children in America have a parent in prison, the FCC voted
to take action on interstate prison phone rates. In February 2014, history was made when the
FCC implemented its order capping the cost of interstate calls. The FCC cited HRDC or PLN
more than 45 times in its order implementing the following regulations for prison and jail
telecom companies:
●

To charge no more than an interim rate cap of $0.21 per minute for interstate debit and prepaid calls and $0.25 per minute for interstate collect calls, dramatically decreasing existing
prison phone rates;

●

“Site commission” payments (e.g., kickbacks) from phone providers to correctional facilities
may not be included in any interstate rate or charge; and

●

Among other provisions, the FCC will separately consider whether similar rate caps and
reforms shall apply to intrastate (in-state) prison phone calls.

Although we celebrate this victory for prisoners and their families, we now have a new battle:
While rates for interstate (long distance) phone calls are covered by the FCC order, calls within
3

states (intrastate) remain high. The FCC recently indicated that it will take action on intrastate
prison phone rates, which comprise around 85% of prison and jail phone calls.
I have been a prisoners’ rights activist and organizer since 1988. Having done this work for 25
years, I realize there are critical times when a little extra effort will make a huge difference. This
is such a time. And I am asking you to make a donation of at least $50.00, and more if you can
afford it, to help end the exorbitant prison phone rates that negatively affect both prisoners and
their families. HRDC needs to raise $90,000 to cover our end of the Campaign for Prison Phone
Justice as we move beyond our initial victory with the FCC and fight for reform of intrastate
prison phone rates. We need your help to fight and win this campaign; HRDC is the ONLY
organization collecting the hard data that the FCC needs to rein in the prison phone industry.
NO ONE ELSE is doing this concrete data collection and analysis. We cannot do it on our
own and we need your support and help. What can you do?
Make a tax-deductible donation to PLN/HRDC so we can continue our urgent work
and fund our part of the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice.
We urgently need your support to continue our research into the prison phone industry and to
coordinate state-level prison phone justice campaigns, such as the campaign we are currently
running in Washington State. We are taking on a billion-dollar industry that is based on the
exploitation of prisoners and their families; this is one of the rare times when a modest donation
can make a significant difference. Whether you can donate or not, please contact the FCC and
encourage everyone you know who receives calls from prisoners to contact the FCC, and tell
them how the ruthless exploitation by prison telecoms and their government allies is causing
hardship and distress to prisoners and their families, and why the FCC needs to take action to
stop this injustice. See the enclosed prison phone justice flyer for more information!
HRDC is a lean and efficient operation, and any donation you make, whether big or small, will
have maximum effect and impact. Please make a contribution to support our work. To show our
appreciation, you can select from several gift options which are described in the enclosed insert,
including a variety of books. Too much stuff to read already? Make a donation of $100 or more
and we’ll mail a copy of the Prisoners’ Guerrilla Handbook to Correspondence Courses in the
U.S. and Canada or The Habeas Citebook to a prison library on your behalf!
Thank you for your continued support, and best wishes for the upcoming holidays.
In Struggle,

Paul Wright
Executive Director, HRDC
P.S. – You can join the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice at www.phonejustice.org; the related
information and research site run by HRDC is: www.prisonphonejustice.org.
P.P.S. – Even if you cannot make a donation at this time, please let your family and friends know
about PLN/HRDC, and encourage them to support our work!
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P.O. Box 1151, Lake Worth, FL 33460 ● (561) 360-2523
www.prisonlegalnews.org

You can mail a check or money order to:
Human Rights Defense Center, P.O. Box 1151, Lake Worth, FL 33460
Or call HRDC’s office at 561-360-2523 and use your credit card,
Or visit HRDC online at www.humanrightsdefensecenter.org and click on the donation link.
Remember — the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC) is a
Section 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, and donations are tax deductible!

Yes! I want to help support HRDC — here is my special donation of:
_____$25 _____$50 _____$100 _____$250 ____$500 _____$1,000 _____ Other
Note: If you don’t want a book premium for your donation of $100 or more, we’ll donate a copy of The Habeas
Citebook or Prisoners’ Guerrilla Handbook to Correspondence Programs to a prison library on your behalf.

To subscribe to HRDC’s monthly publication, Prison Legal News, check here  and enclose $35 for
a one-year subscription. For one free sample issue of Prison Legal News, check here .
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Credit card donors please fill out the following form
 I want to make a one-time contribution of $______________ to HRDC, charged to my credit card!
 I want to contribute a fixed amount to HRDC each month! I authorize the Human Rights Defense
Center to charge $______________ on my credit card every month until I give notice to stop, or until my
total donation amount of $______________ has been charged to my card, whichever comes first.
Print Name on Card: ______________________________________________________
Card Number: ___ ___ ___ ___ - ___ ___ ___ ___ - ___ ___ ___ ___ - ___ ___ ___ ___
Expiration Date: _____/_____/_______

Billing Zip Code for Card: _____________

I authorize the Human Rights Defense Center to charge a total of $______________to my credit card,
which matches the instructions indicated above.
Cardholder Signature: _____________________________________ Date: ___________________
HRDC is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, and your donation is tax deductible to the extent allowed by law.
We protect the privacy of our donors; donor names are not reported in our publication or online.
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Please complete all applicable information to ensure delivery of any donation gifts. Thank you!
Name _____________________________________________________ Title _____________________
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________________________________________________________________________________________
Human Rights Defense Center, P.O. Box 1151, Lake Worth, FL 33460 • (561) 360-2523 • fax (866) 735-7136
www.humanrightsdefensecenter.org • www.prisonlegalnews.org

TAKE ACTION ON PRISON PHONE RATES
BY CONTACTING THE FCC NOW!
After nearly a decade, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took action in 2013 and issued an
order, effective February 11, 2014, that capped the cost of interstate (long distance) prison and jail phone
rates. This led to an almost 80% decrease in interstate phone costs in some states, and those costs are now
capped at $.25/minute for collect calls and $.21/minute for debit and prepaid calls. On Sept. 25, 2014, the
FCC said it plans to take further action to reduce prison and jail phone rates, including in-state (intrastate)
rates – which still remain high in many jurisdictions.
You can submit a public comment to the FCC regarding the high cost of intrastate phone calls and related
issues; even if you have sent comments before, you can resubmit them or submit new information. Please
write to the FCC as soon as possible, addressing any of the following topics:
•

Positive Impact of the FCC Order Reducing Interstate Calls: Let the FCC know how the rate caps on
interstate prison phone calls have resulted in lower costs or helped you and your family!

•

Negative Impact of Intrastate Phone Calls: While the FCC capped long distance phone rates, the order
did not apply to in-state calls, which make up 85% of all calls from prisons and jails. How much do you
or your family pay for in-state phone calls? The FCC needs to hear about this issue so they know why
intrastate prison phone rates need to be reduced, too.

•

Ancillary Fees: Do you or your family have to pay extra fees (ancillary fees) to make or accept calls, such
as fees to set up, add money to or cancel a prepaid or debit prison phone account? Are you charged fees but
were not told about them in advance? How much are these fees? Have they increased?

•

Importance of Prison Phone Reforms: Tell the FCC why it is important to enact permanent reform of
prison phone rates for interstate and in-state calls, including rate caps and the elimination of “commission”
payments to corrections agencies. Also, the FCC needs details about fee-based video visitation services.

Comments can be sent by mail to:
Marlene H. Dortch, Secretary
Federal Communications Commission
445 12th Street, SW; Room TW-B204
Washington, DC 20554
Address the letter “Dear Secretary Dortch,” and please speak from your personal experience. You must
state the following in your letter: “This is a public comment for WC Docket Number 12-375.” Note that
your comment will be made part of the public docket. People with Internet access can file their comments
online with the FCC, by entering Proceeding Number 12-375 and uploading a document here:
http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/upload/display.action?z=nyy6z
For more information about the fight to reduce prison and jail phone rates, ask your family members and
friends to visit the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice website:

www.phonejustice.org

Human Rights Defense Center
2013 Annual Report
contents
Notable Developments 1
PLN – The Magazine 1
Book Distribution 3
	

Book Sales

	

Book Publishing

PLN and HRDC Websites 3
HRDC Staff 4 	
HRDC Board of Directors 4
Funding in 2013 6
Activism & Advocacy 6
Media Outreach 14
Litigation Project 20
	

New Cases Filed in 2013 20

	

Prior Cases Still Pending in 2013 22

	

Cases Resolved in 2013 25

	

Amicus Briefs 26

Other Activities & Achievements 27
	

Campaign for Prison Phone Justice 27

	

Washington Prison Phone Justice Campaign 28

	

CCA and GEO Shareholder Resolutions 28

	

Private Prison Information Act 29

	

Temple University Ethics Complaint 29

	

First Amendment Award 29

	

Collaborations and Affiliations 30

Looking Forward: Goals for 2014 31

Human Rights Defense Center Annual Report 2013 

[1]

Notable Developments
The Human Rights Defense Center, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1990, is the parent organization of Prison Legal News (PLN).
Throughout 2013, in cooperation with the Center for Media Justice and Working Narratives,
HRDC co-coordinated and led the national Campaign for Prison Phone Justice, which seeks just
and equitable rates for telephone calls made by prisoners. The Campaign successfully urged the
Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to take action on the “Wright Petition” to reduce the
cost of exorbitant interstate prison and jail phone calls; in a landmark decision, the FCC voted on
August 9, 2013 to cap interstate prison phone rates nationwide. The order was released in September 2013 and will go into effect in early 2014.
On April 24, 2013, a federal district court in Oregon entered judgment in PLN’s favor in a suit
challenging censorship due to a postcard-only policy at the Columbia County Jail. This was the first
time a court had struck down as unconstitutional a jail’s postcard-only policy following a trial on
the merits.
HRDC received a substantial award of cy pres funds in a class-action lawsuit in Washington
State against prison phone companies; as a result of the award, HRDC will be launching its first
statewide prison phone justice campaign in Washington.
Additionally, HRDC relocated its office from Vermont to Lake Worth, Florida, and received
the Society of Professional Journalists’ First Amendment Award in 2013.

PLN – The Magazine
HRDC’s monthly publication, Prison Legal News, reports on corrections and criminal justicerelated issues. PLN celebrated its 23rd anniversary on May 1, 2013, continuing its distinction of
being the longest-running independent magazine produced by and for prisoners.
PLN published the following cover stories in 2013:
ƒƒ Sharon Dolovich’s insightful examination of the deference that judges give corrections
officials, “Forms of Judicial Deference in Prison Law”
ƒƒ A profile of for-profit prison company LaSalle Corrections, which operates facilities in
Louisiana and Texas, by Matt Clarke
ƒƒ Systemic abuses in Los Angeles County’s jail system that resulted in lawsuits, a federal
investigation and eventual reforms, by Mike Brodheim and Alex Friedmann
ƒƒ Derek Gilna’s examination of U.S. immigration policy, including privately-operated
immigration detention facilities

Human Rights Defense Center Annual Report 2013 

[2]

ƒƒ A survey of prison visitation programs in all 50 states by Chesa Boudin, Trevor Stutz and
Aaron Littman
ƒƒ “Slowly Closing the Gates: A State-by-State Assessment of Recent Prison Closures,” by
Christopher Petrella and Alex Friedmann
ƒƒ Joe Watson’s in-depth look at Arizona’s prison system, including prisoner deaths, pardons
and prison privatization
ƒƒ “An Innocent Man Speaks” – PLN editor Paul Wright’s interview with Jeff Deskovic, who
was wrongfully convicted of murder and eventually exonerated
ƒƒ An examination of the history of the Prison Rape Elimination Act and the long-delayed
implementation of PREA standards, by Alex Friedmann
ƒƒ Prisoner deaths in San Diego County’s jail system, by Dave Maass and Kelly Davis with San
Diego CityBeat
ƒƒ An argument for more mainstream media coverage of criminal justice-related issues, by
Dan Froomkin
ƒƒ PLN’s second comprehensive examination of the prison phone industry, with updated
state-by-state prison phone rates and commission data, by John Dannenberg and Alex
Friedmann
Due to an increase in PLN’s advertising revenue in 2013, Prison Legal News expanded to 64
pages. PLN works hard to maintain first-rate advertisers that offer quality services and products of
interest to prisoners and their families. We have a target of 25% ad content to 75% news, editorial
and legal content.
PLN distributed over 25,000 free sample issues in 2013 via direct mail and at conferences and
other events. PLN has approximately 9,000 subscribers in all 50 states; an estimated 70% of our
subscribers are incarcerated. PLN’s print readership is around 90,000 based on reader surveys that
indicate 10 people read each copy of PLN.
PLN continued to receive a large volume of mail throughout 2013. The majority of this correspondence was from prisoners, with many requesting legal assistance or sending news clippings,
court decisions and other items of interest. Due to this large amount of mail, PLN is unable to respond to everyone who contacts us.

Human Rights Defense Center Annual Report 2013 

[3]

Book Distribution
Book Sales
HRDC offers a wide variety of books of interest to prisoners, including hard-to-find works on
criminal justice topics as well as self-help legal resources designed to help prisoners who are litigating their own cases.
HRDC added several new legal reference and self-help titles to our book list in 2013, including
Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary and Complete GED Preparation.
Book Publishing
PLN Publishing seeks to publish quality nonfiction reference books that provide prisoners
and their advocates with reliable, timely and accurate information they can use to help themselves
and improve their lives. We offer the highest author royalties in publishing: 10% of the sales price
of each book sold.
Our goal is to produce a new title every year; previous books published by PLN include
The Habeas Citebook: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel by Brandon Sample, and the Prisoners’
Guerrilla Handbook to Correspondence Programs in the United States and Canada (3rd Ed.),
by Jon Marc Taylor and edited by Susan Schwartzkopf. PLN did not publish any new book titles
in 2013.

PLN and HRDC Websites
During 2013 we further developed and expanded PLN’s website by increasing its content and usability. The website is a continuing work in progress as we strive to improve the user interface, search
functionality and other features. PLN’s site (www.prisonlegalnews.org) receives over 100,000 visitors per month and has become a significant resource for media and community outreach and public education on criminal justice issues.
PLN’s website currently has over 17,300 news and law articles in its searchable database. The
publications section has more than 5,200 reports, audits and other documents related to criminal
justice topics, and our brief bank contains almost 7,000 assorted legal pleadings – including complaints, motions, appeal briefs, verdicts, judgments and settlements in prison and jail cases.
Due to the proliferation of websites that offer free access to published court rulings, we have
stopped loading new published court decisions into our site and instead are only loading unpublished rulings that are otherwise not available or difficult to find elsewhere.
HRDC’s website (www.humanrightsdefensecenter.org) also was expanded and improved in
2013. We began preparing in 2013 to transition the websites for both PLN and HRDC to new and
updated sites – a process that is expected to be complete in mid-2014.

Human Rights Defense Center Annual Report 2013 

[4]

HRDC Staff
HRDC’s executive team includes Paul Wright, executive director and editor of PLN; Alex Friedmann, associate director and managing editor of PLN; chief financial officer and PLN advertising
director Susan Schwartzkopf; and litigation project director and general counsel Lance Weber.
In June 2013, the Human Rights Defense Center moved its office from Brattleboro, Vermont
to Lake Worth, Florida. While HRDC’s executive team remained the same, new full-time office
staff were hired – including Robert E. Jack, staff attorney; Judith Cohen, office manager; Jeff Antoniewicz, paralegal; David Ganim, prison phone justice director; Maricela Garcia, research and
office assistant; and Frances Sauceda, office assistant. Carrie Wilkinson was hired in late 2013 as
HRDC’s prison phone justice director for Washington State.

HRDC Board of Directors
Dan Axtell – Mr. Axtell is a computer professional and human rights activist.
Rick Best – Rick Best is a not-for-profit consultant working primarily in financial management.
He also practices law and was part of the legal team that litigated civil rights violations arising out
of mass arrests during the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York City. He served two
years in federal prison for draft resistance during the Vietnam War and was Executive Director of
the National Lawyers Guild from 1992 to 1995.
Bell Chevigny – Bell Chevigny is professor emerita of literature at Purchase College, SUNY. She
has served on the PEN Prison Writing Program for over twenty years, three of them as chair. The
Prison Writing Program offers an annual literary competition to incarcerated men and women
nationwide. With the support of a Soros Senior Justice Fellowship, she compiled Doing Time: 25
Years of Prison Writing, a PEN American Center Prize anthology. She has written extensively about
incarcerated authors and their literary works.
Howard Friedman – Howard Friedman is the principal in the Law Offices of Howard Friedman
P.C., a civil litigation firm in Boston, Massachusetts. Howard’s practice emphasizes representing
plaintiffs in civil rights cases, particularly cases involving law enforcement, including police misconduct and prisoners’ rights litigation. Howard began his career in 1977 as a staff attorney at the
Prisoners’ Rights Project in Boston. He is the past President of the National Police Accountability
Project of the National Lawyers Guild and served as chair of the Civil Rights Section of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America (now the American Association for Justice). He is a graduate of
Northeastern University School of Law and Goddard College.

Human Rights Defense Center Annual Report 2013 

[5]

Mike Godwin – Mike Godwin is an attorney and author specializing in free speech and intellectual
property issues.
Judy Greene – Judith Greene is a criminal justice policy analyst and the founding director of Justice
Strategies. Previously she was the recipient of a Soros Senior Justice Fellowship. She has served as a
research associate for the RAND Corporation, as a senior research fellow at the University of Minnesota Law School and as director of the State-Centered Program for the Edna McConnell Clark
Foundation. From 1985 to 1993 she was Director of Court Programs at the Vera Institute of Justice.
Sheila Rule – Sheila Rule is co-founder of the Think Outside the Cell Foundation (www.
thinkoutsidethecell.org). The foundation works to end the stigma of incarceration and offers programs for those who live in the long shadow of prison. She began working with this population
in 2001 when she joined the Riverside Church Prison Ministry in New York City and was asked
to correspond with incarcerated men and women. Inspired by their rich potential, she started the
publishing company Resilience Multimedia to publish books that present a fairer image of those
who have spent time behind bars. She is also on the board of Good Shepherd Services, a leading
New York social services agency serving vulnerable children and families. She was a journalist at
The New York Times for more than 30 years, including seven as a foreign correspondent in Africa
and Europe, before retiring so she could embrace her current work.
Peter Sussman – Peter Sussman is an author and freelance journalist, and was a longtime editor at
the San Francisco Chronicle. He has received numerous awards for his advocacy of media access to
prisoners. He is the co-author, with prison writer Dannie M. Martin, of Committing Journalism: The
Prison Writings of Red Hog, and wrote a chapter on the media and prisons in Invisible Punishment: The
Collateral Consequences of Mass Imprisonment, edited by Marc Mauer and Meda Chesney-Lind.
Bill Trine – Bill Trine has been a trial lawyer for the people for 50 years, and a past president and
founder of Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ), past president of the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association and on the board of other trial lawyer groups. Bill has been the senior partner in his own law
firm for many years and presently is in the process of trying to retire to do more writing and teaching.
He started a national prison project through TLPJ in 2005 and has been plaintiff ’s counsel in prison
cases for several years, including numerous lawsuits arising out of a riot at a privately-operated prison
in Crowley County, Colorado. Bill helped start the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College in 1994 and
has been on the faculty and a member of the College’s board since its beginning.
Paul Wright – Paul Wright is the editor of Prison Legal News and founder of the Human Rights Defense Center and its predecessor organization, Prisoners’ Legal News. He is responsible for PLN’s
editorial content and HRDC’s public advocacy and outreach efforts and fundraising. Mr. Wright
was incarcerated for 17 years in Washington State’s prison system; he was released in 2003.

Human Rights Defense Center Annual Report 2013 

[6]

Funding in 2013
HRDC received foundation support from the Open Society Institute, Funding Exchange, Irvin
Stern Foundation and Sonya Staff Foundation in 2013. Foundation support and individual donations made up approximately 35% of HRDC’s annual revenue, with the remainder coming from
PLN subscriptions, book sales and advertising income, plus HRDC’s litigation project.
PLN subscription revenue in 2013 was over $105,000, and advertising income increased to approximately $125,000. HRDC’s book sales generated around $85,000 in revenue.
Additionally, HRDC was awarded a total of $1 million in cy pres funds in a Washington State
class-action suit related to state law violations by prison phone companies between 1996 and 2000.
The lawsuit, Judd v. AT&T, resulted in a $46 million settlement in January 2013, which included
millions of dollars in unclaimed funds for class members who had died while the case was pending
or who could otherwise not be located. Dozens of non-profit organizations applied for these cy pres
funds, and the state court granted HRDC two awards of $500,000 each in April and August 2013.
This was HRDC’s first request for cy pres funds in a class-action lawsuit. The original plaintiffs
in the Judd case included HRDC executive director Paul Wright’s then-wife and former HRDC
board member Sandra Judd, former HRDC board member and attorney Tara Herivel (who coedited two of PLN’s mass incarceration anthologies) and Paul’s mother, Zuraya Wright – whose
claims in the suit were dismissed because they related to long distance rather than in-state prison
phone calls.
HRDC will use the cy pres awards to establish its first statewide prison phone justice campaign
in Washington State, with the goal of eliminating prison phone “commission” kickbacks and reducing in-state prison and jail telephone rates. HRDC began developing the campaign and making
arrangements to re-open its Seattle office in late 2013.

Activism & Advocacy
HRDC staff engaged in a number of activism and advocacy efforts in 2013, to effect reform in our
nation’s criminal justice system and to educate the public, policymakers and mainstream media
about criminal justice and prison-related issues. These efforts included:
ƒƒ A three-book series, Prison Privatization: The Many Facets of a Controversial Industry,
published in late 2012, included information from interviews with HRDC executive director
Paul Wright and associate director Alex Friedmann. Prison Legal News was profiled in a
chapter titled “Grassroots Efforts Against Private Prisons.”
ƒƒ Millionaire media magnate and former federal prisoner Conrad Black’s latest book, A Matter
of Principle, published in late 2012, was dedicated to Paul Wright as a “loyal American friend.”
PLN had published an exclusive interview with Conrad Black in September 2012.

Human Rights Defense Center Annual Report 2013 

[7]

ƒƒ On January 5, 2013, former HRDC prison phone justice coordinator Mel Motel was
interviewed on “Reel Talk Radio” on KJCB 770 AM in Lafayette, Louisiana about the
Campaign for Prison Phone Justice.
ƒƒ Mel Motel and Paul Wright were guests on “The 9 O’Clock Show with Bill Newman” on
WHMP 96.9 FM in Northampton, MA on January 9, 2013 and discussed the Campaign for
Prison Phone Justice. Mel also was a guest on the “Crossroads Radio Show,” WPFW 89.3
FM in Washington, DC on January 15, 2013, and discussed the Campaign.
ƒƒ Paul Wright participated in a video interview on Huffington Post Live on January 15, 2013,
regarding private prisons.
ƒƒ On January 16, 2013, Alex Friedmann and Amalia Deloney, associate director of the Center
for Media Justice, co-accepted the Digital Pioneer for Social Justice Award from the Minority
Media and Telecommunications Council, on behalf of the Campaign for Prison Phone
Justice. FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn and Martha Wright – the lead petitioner in
the Wright Petition – attended the awards ceremony.
ƒƒ HRDC submitted comments on January 20, 2013 to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights
regarding the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s enforcement guidance for
criminal background checks by employers.
ƒƒ HRDC signed on to a January 24, 2013 joint letter coordinated by Grassroots Leadership
calling for the closure of the CCA-operated Dawson State Jail in Texas.
ƒƒ On January 28, 2013, Alex Friedmann submitted comments to the Tennessee Advisory
Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights on issues related to disenfranchisement
and voting rights for ex-prisoners in Tennessee.
ƒƒ HRDC submitted comments to the New Hampshire House Criminal Justice and Public
Safety Committee on January 31, 2013, in support of legislation (HB 443-FN) to prohibit the
state from housing prisoners in privately-operated facilities.
ƒƒ HRDC contributed to a Prison Policy Initiative report on postcard-only mail policies being
implemented at jails across the U.S., titled “Return to Sender.” The report, released on
February 7, 2013, referenced several PLN lawsuits related to jail censorship issues.
ƒƒ On February 7, 2013, Mel Motel testified before the New Hampshire House Criminal Justice
and Public Safety Committee in support of HB 443-FN, a bill to prohibit prison privatization
in that state.
ƒƒ Paul Wright attended the Students United for Reform and Justice’s Culture Week, held from
February 11-14, 2013 at UC Davis Law School in California, and co-presented with Professor
Holly Cooper on prison phone-related issues.

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ƒƒ HRDC submitted comments to the Vermont House Committee on Corrections and
Institutions on February 13, 2014 in support of H.28 – a bill that, among other provisions,
would prohibit the state from housing prisoners in privately-operated facilities.
ƒƒ On February 14, 2013, HRDC, along with over 200 other organizations, signed on to a joint
letter coordinated by the Prison Policy Initiative asking the U.S. Census Bureau to end
prison gerrymandering by not counting incarcerated people as residents of the facilities
where they are held for census purposes.
ƒƒ Paul Wright and Mel Motel attended the Rebellious Lawyering Conference (RebLaw) at
Yale University on February 23, 2013, and spoke on a panel about the Campaign for Prison
Phone Justice.
ƒƒ HRDC and 25 other organizations signed on to comments submitted by Just Detention
International to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on February 26, 2013 concerning
Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) standards for immigration detention facilities.
ƒƒ On February 28, 2013, Alex Friedmann and U.C. Berkeley doctoral student Chris Petrella
spoke on Break Thru Radio’s “Third Eye Weekly” about their efforts to have the Private
Prison Information Act reintroduced in Congress.
ƒƒ Paul Wright, HRDC general counsel Lance Weber and former HRDC staff attorney Alissa
Hull gave a presentation titled “Defending the First Amendment Against Prison and Jail
Censors” at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York on March 11, 2013.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann participated in a panel presentation at the First Amendment Center in
Nashville, Tennessee on March 15, 2013 as part of the Society of Professional Journalists’
Sunshine Week, on open government issues. Other panelists included Steve Cavendish,
editor of the Nashville City Paper, and Maria De Varenne, editor of the Tennessean. Alex
discussed PLN’s public records lawsuit against CCA.
ƒƒ HRDC signed on to a March 19, 2013 letter submitted to the U.S. House and Senate
Judiciary Committees, in support of releasing immigration detainees who do not need to
be incarcerated and eliminating ICE’s “bed mandate” to maintain 34,000 detention beds.
The joint letter was coordinated by Detention Watch Network.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann spoke on March 22, 2013 to the Christian Ethics Society at Belmont
University in Nashville, about the private prison industry and divestment campaigns.
ƒƒ HRDC filed an extensive comment with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)
on March 25, 2013 in support of the Wright Petition, caps on prison phone rates and reform
of the prison phone industry.

Human Rights Defense Center Annual Report 2013 

[9]

ƒƒ HRDC signed on to an April 4, 2013 letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Secretary Janet Napolitano, calling for the closure of the Polk County Detention Center,
an immigration detention facility in Texas. The joint letter was coordinated by Grassroots
Leadership.
ƒƒ On April 6, 2013, Alex Friedmann and other panelists, including Lee Petro, the attorney
representing the petitioners in the Wright Petition, presented at the National Conference on
Media Reform in Denver, Colorado about the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice.
ƒƒ Mel Motel testified at a New Hampshire Senate Finance Committee hearing on April 9, 2013
in support of HB 443-FN – legislation to ban private prisons in the state.
ƒƒ Paul Wright and Lance Weber gave a presentation on “The Constitutional Right to
Communicate with Prisoners” for the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law and
The Prisoners’ Rights and Education Project at New York University Law School on April
9, 2013.
ƒƒ On April 14, 2013, Alex Friedmann spoke about prison privatization at the Brookmeade
Congregational Church in Nashville, as part of the church’s Criminal Injustice series.
ƒƒ Paul Wright participated in an April 17, 2013 Huffington Post video panel on “Jim Crow
Prison,” concerning racism in California’s prison system.
ƒƒ Mel Motel was a guest on the Kansas City, Missouri KKFI 90.1 FM radio show “Jaws for
Justice” on April 22, 2013, and discussed the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann participated in a video interview for the Public Safety and Justice Campaign
on CCA’s 30-year anniversary; the interview was posted on the Campaign’s Nation Inside
website on April 24, 2013.
ƒƒ On April 25, 2013, Alex Friedmann spoke about private prisons on the Flaming Sword of
Justice, a progressive radio show (www.flamingswordofjustice.com).
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was a guest on KBOO community radio in Portland, Oregon on April 26,
2013, and spoke about PLN’s victory in a censorship lawsuit against the Columbus County
Jail.
ƒƒ Mel Motel spoke on the Crossroads Radio Show, WPFW 89.3 FM in Washington, DC, about
the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice; other speakers included attorney Lee Petro and
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton. The show aired on April 30, 2013.
ƒƒ On May 3, 2013, HRDC staff spoke to nearly thirty-five Vermont 10th graders about the
Freedom of Information Act.

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ƒƒ Alex Friedmann presented on “The Political and Societal Impact of the Private Prison
Industry” at the Rethinking Prisons conference at Vanderbilt University on May 5, 2013.
Other panelists included Sheila Van Ness with the University of Chattanooga and Matt
Whitt with Warren Wilson College.
ƒƒ On May 7, 2013, Alex Friedmann and Chris Petrella were guests on the 4 Justice Now radio
show, “Women Behind the Wall,” and spoke about the Private Prison Information Act.
ƒƒ PLN assisted with a Prison Policy Initiative report titled “Please Deposit All of Your Money:
Kickbacks, Rates, and Hidden Fees in the Jail Phone Industry,” released on May 7, 2013. Alex
Friedmann was included in the report’s acknowledgements.
ƒƒ On May 15, 2013, Alex Friedmann spoke at a community forum in Nashville regarding
prison privatization. The event was coordinated by the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee
Rights Coalition (TIRRC), and other speakers included Carl Takei with the ACLU’s National
Prison Project, Bob Libal with Grassroots Leadership, Judy Greene with Justice Strategies
and representatives from TIRRC.
ƒƒ HRDC signed on to a May 15, 2013 joint letter to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee in
opposition to an amendment to a bill that would increase penalties for certain marijuana
offenses committed on federal land. The letter was coordinated by the U.S. Advocacy
Program of Human Rights Watch.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann attended CCA’s annual shareholder meeting in Nashville on May 16,
2013, and participated in a protest outside the meeting. He asked questions of CCA’s board
members and requested a moment of silence in memory of a guard who was murdered
during a riot at CCA’s Adams County Correctional Center in May 2012. CCA board
chairman John Ferguson refused the request.
ƒƒ Film producer Mark Faulk interviewed Alex Friedmann on May 16, 2013 for an upcoming
documentary about the private prison industry.
ƒƒ On May 18 and 19, 2013, Alex Friedmann spoke on two panels at the National Lawyers
Guild’s Southern Conference in Nashville. He discussed prison privatization and felon
disenfranchisement; other panelists included Chris Petrella, Azadeh Shahshahani with the
ACLU, Desmond Meade with the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition and Sandra Enos
with AID Atlanta. Alex also provided an introduction for George Barrett, a celebrated
Nashville civil rights attorney.

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ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was interviewed by Brave New Films on June 4, 2013 on issues related to
the private prison industry, for the Prison Profiteers video series – a joint project of Beyond
Bars, the ACLU and The Nation (www.prisonprofiteers.org). He was featured in a video
about CCA, Mel Motel appeared in a video on prison phone company Global Tel*Link, and
PLN was credited for providing research help for the videos.
ƒƒ On June 13, 2013, HRDC signed on to a joint letter to the Assistant Secretary of State for
International Organization Affairs, urging the U.S. government to extend an invitation
to UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan Mendez to undertake a fact finding visit to
examine, among other things, solitary confinement practices in U.S. prisons. The sign-on
letter was coordinated by the ACLU.
ƒƒ HRDC joined a sign-on letter coordinated by the ACLU on June 14, 2013, asking U.S.
Senators to oppose a proposed amendment to the Border Security, Economic Opportunity
and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013, which would allow immigrant detainees to be
incarcerated indefinitely with no time limit or opportunity for a bond hearing.
ƒƒ Paul Wright was one of eight signatories to a joint statement released by the Prisoners
Revolutionary Literature Fund on June 16, 2013, against censorship of the Revolution
newspaper at California’s Pelican Bay State Prison.
ƒƒ From June 19-22, 2013, Paul Wright attended the Allied Media Conference in Detroit,
Michigan, which included a network gathering of Nation Inside – one of HRDC’s partners
in the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice. He gave an update on the Campaign, announced
the launch of HRDC’s Washington Prison Phone Justice Campaign, participated in a
strategic communications workshop with Spitfire Strategies, and presented at a workshop
titled “Fighting for Prisoner Communication.”
ƒƒ On June 20, 2013, Alex Friedmann was one of four speakers on a teleconference call to
announce the release of a report by Grassroots Leadership titled “The Dirty 30: Nothing
to Celebrate About 30 Years of Corrections Corporation of America.” The other speakers
included Dr. Niaz Kasravi, director of the NAACP’s Criminal Justice Program; Grassroots
Leadership executive director Bob Libal; and Joshua Miller with AFSCME. Alex assisted
with the report and was mentioned in the acknowledgements.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann and HRDC prison phone justice director David Ganim attended an FCC
workshop on prison phone rates at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC on July
10, 2013. Alex participated in a panel discussion with National CURE co-director Charlie
Sullivan, Virginia Delegate Patrick Hope and several other panelists. Other speakers at
the workshop included FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush and
Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton.

Human Rights Defense Center Annual Report 2013 

[12]

ƒƒ PLN sent letters to Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Derrick Schofield
on July 16, 2013 and September 19, 2013 regarding racial disparities in honor units at the
Northeast Correctional Complex. PLN had filed public records requests to obtain statistical
data regarding the racial breakdown of the population in the units, which indicated that
black prisoners were disproportionately underrepresented.
ƒƒ HRDC signed on to a July 22, 2013 joint letter to members of Congress in support of the
creation of a task force to review the unprecedented growth of the federal prison system.
The letter was coordinated by the U.S. Advocacy Program of Human Rights Watch.
ƒƒ Film producer Stephen Newton interviewed Alex Friedmann on July 25, 2013 for an
upcoming film titled “Outcasts: Surviving the Culture of Rejection.” The film addresses
the issue of recidivism in Tennessee and is expected to be released in early 2014 (www.
cultureofrejection.org).
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann spoke and answered questions at a forum on criminal justice topics at the
Christ United Methodist Church on July 28, 2013 in Franklin, Tennessee.
ƒƒ On July 29, 2013, Alex Friedmann participated in a protest at CCA’s headquarters in Nashville
in support of the Dream 9, a group of immigration reform activists who were incarcerated
at CCA’s Eloy facility in Arizona. The protest action included delivering a letter to CCA vice
president Steve Owen.
ƒƒ On August 5, 2013, HRDC signed on to a joint letter to Immigration and Customs
Enforcement to protest ICE’s suspension of community-based visitation programs at three
detention facilities in Southern California due to public criticism of mistreatment of LGBT
detainees. The letter was coordinated by the ACLU of Southern California.
ƒƒ HRDC and 50 other organizations signed on to an August 15, 2013 letter opposing the
construction of a for-profit prison in McAllen, Texas. The joint letter was coordinated by
Grassroots Leadership.
ƒƒ On August 16, 2013, David Ganim attended the 2013 Florida Rights Restoration Coalition
convening in Orlando, and networked with other Florida-based organizations working on
criminal justice-related issues.
ƒƒ HRDC submitted a letter to the California Assembly Appropriations Committee on
August 26, 2013 in support of Senate Bill 716, to require jails and other detention facilities
in California to adopt policies consistent with the national Prison Rape Elimination Act
(PREA) standards.

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ƒƒ On August 28, 2013, HRDC submitted a letter to U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman of
the Senate Judiciary Committee, regarding the federal Bureau of Prisons’ plan to transfer
female prisoners from a facility in Danbury, Connecticut to a newly-opened prison in
Aliceville, Alabama. HRDC expressed concerns about the impact the transfer would have
on prisoners’ ability to receive visits from their family members.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was a speaker on a September 19, 2013 media call announcing the release of
a report by In The Public Interest (ITPI) on private prison bed guarantees. Other speakers
included former Oklahoma DOC director Justin Jones, ITPI staffer Shar Habibi, and Michael
McBride with Urban Strategies and Lifelines to Healing.
ƒƒ HRDC and 25 other organizations submitted a joint letter on September 24, 2013 to the
U.S. House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science in support of funding for
the Charles Colson Task Force on Federal Corrections, to conduct a review of the rapidly
growing federal prison system. The letter was coordinated by Justice Fellowship.
ƒƒ On October 3, 2013, Paul Wright presented at the Media Justice Criminal Justice Workshop
at the Nathan Cummings Foundation in New York City. The event, on media justice and
prison phone-related issues, was sponsored by the Center for Media Justice, HRDC, Working
Narratives and Alternate ROOTS.
ƒƒ Paul Wright presented at the Cleveland State University College of Law on October 16, 2013
on “Prisons, Power and Policy in the Twenty-First Century.”
ƒƒ On October 17, 2013, after receiving letters from nine prisoners at the Tennessee Prison
for Women, PLN contacted the Tennessee Department of Correction to express concerns
about issues raised in the letters, including allegations of sexual misconduct and verbal
abuse by prison staff, insufficient toilet paper and sanitary napkins, inadequate medical and
dental care, and a lack of comparable programs offered in men’s prisons.
ƒƒ Paul Wright presented at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on October 18,
2013, on issues related to mass incarceration and socioeconomic disparities in our nation’s
criminal justice system.
ƒƒ On October 28, 2013, HRDC and eleven other organizations signed on to a letter submitted
to Attorney General Eric Holder regarding efforts by the Department of Justice to remove
restrictions that prevent Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) grantees from providing services to
victims of violence who are incarcerated. The joint letter was coordinated by the Raising the
Bar Coalition, of which HRDC is a member.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann attended the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC)
conference in Nashville from October 28-30, 2013; he attended several panels on prison
medical care and took a tour of the Deberry Special Needs Facility. Following the conference,
he wrote an article about the use of telemedicine in prisons.

Human Rights Defense Center Annual Report 2013 

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ƒƒ On November 14, 2013, Alex Friedmann attended a Tennessee Department of Correction Family
and Friends Forum in Nashville, questioned state prison officials and spoke with TDOC Commissioner Derrick Schofield about issues of concern in Tennessee’s prison system. He also wrote a
debrief regarding the event, which was distributed to prisoners and prisoners’ family members.
ƒƒ Grassroots Leadership released a report on prisoners held in out-of-state private prisons,
titled “Locked Up & Shipped Away,” on November 20, 2013. Alex Friedmann contributed to
the report and was mentioned in the credits; the report also referenced two PLN articles.
ƒƒ PLN sent a letter to the Tennessee Department of Correction on November 26, 2013 to
express concern about changes in the prison system’s formulary; i.e., the removal of certain
medications from the formulary and requiring prisoners to purchase those medications
from the prison commissary. PLN noted that 10 of the 14 members of the TDOC committee
responsible for the formulary change were employed by private, for-profit contractors,
including CCA and Corizon.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was interviewed for the radio program “Making Contact” (www.radioproject.
org). The show aired on December 3, 2013 as “2013: The Year the Prison System Changed?”
ƒƒ On December 5, 2013, Alex Friedmann was a panelist on a live radio program, “Your Call,”
on KALW public radio in San Francisco. Other panelists included Palm Beach Post reporter
Pat Beall, Huffington Post writer Chris Kirkham and a spokesman for California’s prison
system. The topic was prison privatization and California’s transfer of more than 8,000
prisoners to out-of-state private prisons.
ƒƒ PLN sent a letter to Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Derrick Schofield
on December 7, 2013 in reference to the TDOC rebidding its prison phone contract. The
letter requested that the TDOC forgo prison phone commissions and base its new prison
phone contract on the lowest cost to prisoners and their families.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann gave three presentations on private prison-related issues at the Public
Safety and Justice Campaign’s annual strategy session on December 12, 2013 in Washington,
DC. HRDC is a member of the Campaign.

Media Outreach
HRDC continued to make the news in 2013, including articles that mentioned PLN or quoted PLN
staff. This media coverage included daily newspapers, magazines, radio programs and TV shows.
Further, HRDC issued 13 press releases in 2013. The following compilation of news reports does not
include articles about HRDC’s litigation and is not a complete list, but is illustrative of media coverage that PLN and HRDC received during the past year:

Human Rights Defense Center Annual Report 2013 

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ƒƒ A PLN article on prison closures was cited in a Voice of Detroit article about Michigan’s
prison and parole reforms on January 9, 2013.
ƒƒ On January 23, 2013, HRDC and UC Berkeley doctoral student Chris Petrella were mentioned
in a Huffington Post article about the Private Prison Information Act.
ƒƒ HRDC was mentioned in a January 24, 2013 news report on CBS 11-Dallas as one of several
organizations calling for the closure of the Dawson State Jail in Dallas, Texas.
ƒƒ PLN’s prison phone survey data was mentioned in a January 25, 2013 McClatchy article
about the FCC taking action on prison phone rates.
ƒƒ PLN was mentioned in a January 30, 2013 article in the A&T Register regarding the FCC’s
action to lower prison phone rates.
ƒƒ In a February 3, 2013 article about a $45 million class-action settlement against AT&T
involving prison phone services, the Seattle Times mentioned the lawsuit had been filed by
family and friends of HRDC executive director Paul Wright.
ƒƒ A February 7, 2013 Forbes article mentioned PLN managing editor Alex Friedmann and Chris
Petrella in reference to their efforts to have the Private Prison Information Act reintroduced
by U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee.
ƒƒ RT (Russian Television) quoted from a PLN article on elderly prisoners in a February 14,
2013 news report about a 73-year-old ex-offender who robbed a bank so he could return to
prison.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann’s editorial on prison privatization in Michigan was published on www.
mlive.com on February 15, 2013.
ƒƒ On March 19, 2013, Paul Wright was quoted by the BBC in an article about the most daring
prison escapes.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was quoted in the Nashville Post on March 21, 2013 about CCA excluding
his shareholder resolution related to the company’s restructuring as a real estate investment
trust (REIT). “Should CCA’s REIT conversion turn out badly, as did the company’s first
attempt to become a REIT, the company and its board cannot claim they were unaware that
they should have fully informed shareholders about CCA’s history with respect to REITs,”
he stated.
ƒƒ Courthouse News Service (CNS) cited PLN in an article about the U.S. criminal justice
system on April 12, 2013, after CNS webpage editor Robert Kahn visited PLN’s office in
Vermont.

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ƒƒ On April 12, 2013, Alex Friedmann was quoted in an article in Barron’s regarding falsified
staffing records at a CCA-operated prison in Idaho. “Based on the findings by the Idaho
Department of Correction and CCA’s own admissions, every single jurisdiction that contracts
with CCA should conduct an audit to ensure contractual compliance and adequate staffing
at facilities operated by the company,” he said.
ƒƒ In May 2013, The American Reader profiled PLN in an article on censorship by prison
officials; the article was also posted on www.salon.com.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was quoted in the Clarion Ledger on May 13, 2013 regarding a riot and
the murder of a prison guard at the CCA-operated Adams County Correctional Center in
Mississippi.
ƒƒ On May 16, 2013, Alex Friedmann was quoted on Channel 5 News (Nashville) about a
protest with other activists outside CCA’s headquarters during the company’s 2013 annual
shareholder meeting.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was quoted in a May 16, 2013 Associated Press article regarding the
resignation of the warden at a scandal-plagued CCA prison in Idaho.
ƒƒ Paul Wright was quoted in a May 17, 2013 article on www.mashable.com about a federal
prisoner being placed in segregation for using social media.
ƒƒ A May 17, 2013 article in the Clarion Ledger quoted Alex Friedmann regarding the death of
a CCA guard during a riot and CCA’s refusal to honor a 30-second moment of silence at
the company’s annual shareholder meeting. “In that one meeting CCA would not give 30
seconds of respect,” he noted. “It speaks volumes how the company thinks of its employees
and how it treats them.”
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was cited in a May 23, 2013 Nashville Post article about his criticism of a
private prison study conducted by professors at Temple University; he contended the study
did not adequately disclose it was funded by private prison companies.
ƒƒ On May 30, 2013, Alex Friedmann was interviewed by WSMV Channel 4 in Nashville for
a news report on Tennessee prisoners using contraband cell phones to post photos and
videos on Facebook.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was quoted in a Nashville Post article on June 19, 2013 about CCA losing its
contract to operate the Idaho Correctional Center.
ƒƒ A June 21, 2013 article in the Houston Press quoted Alex Friedmann in regard to a report
released by Grassroots Leadership titled “The Dirty Thirty: Nothing to Celebrate About 30
Years of Corrections Corporation of America.”

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ƒƒ Paul Wright and Alex Friedmann were quoted in a July 4, 2013 Tennessean article about
JPay, a for-profit company that charges a fee for prisoners’ families and friends to deposit
money in prison accounts, with the state receiving a cut of the fee revenue.
ƒƒ In a July 10, 2013 Legal Times article, Alex Friedmann was quoted in regard to the FCC’s vote
to cap interstate prison phone rates.
ƒƒ On July 16, 2013, Alex Friedmann was quoted in the Atlanta Daily World concerning
CCA’s increasing profits while a growing number of blacks and Hispanics are being sent to
prison.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was interviewed for an August 5, 2013 news report by WSMV Channel 4 in
Nashville on the sale of e-cigarettes in jails.
ƒƒ An August 8, 2013 article in the Washington Post mentioned PLN’s prison phone research
and its relevance to the FCC decision to lower prison phone rates.
ƒƒ On August 9, 2013, Alex Friedmann was interviewed by WSMV Channel 4 in Nashville
regarding prison phone-related issues and the FCC’s vote to cap the cost of interstate prison
phone calls.
ƒƒ The U-T San Diego paper quoted Paul Wright in an August 10, 2013 article about postcardonly policies being implemented at county jails.
ƒƒ An August 14, 2013 article in the Phoenix New Times highlighted PLN’s cover story on the
Arizona Department of Corrections by PLN contributing writer Joe Watson, and quoted
Alex Friedmann.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was quoted in an August 19, 2013 Rolling Stone article about the FCC’s
long-awaited vote to lower prison phone rates. “Rather than being the end of a very lengthy
decade-long campaign,” he said, “it’s the beginning of a longer struggle to ensure additional
reforms of the prison phone industry.”
ƒƒ On September 8, 2013, Alex Friedmann was quoted in a StarNews article about the high cost
of prison phone calls and the FCC’s vote to cap interstate phone rates.
ƒƒ An article in the Intelligencer Journal on September 14, 2013 mentioned PLN and HRDC in
reference to the FCC’s decision to lower interstate phone rates.
ƒƒ Paul Wright was quoted in Neiman Reports (Harvard University) on September 18, 2013
regarding the need for journalists to cover more criminal justice stories. “Normally wellintentioned or hard-nosed journalists, they tend to take statements by prison officials or
government officials at face value, with no type of critical disbelief,” he stated.

Human Rights Defense Center Annual Report 2013 

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ƒƒ On September 19, 2013, Alex Friedmann was quoted in The Daily Advertiser regarding
private prison bed guarantees in Louisiana.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was quoted in an article on private prison bed guarantees by PR Watch on
September 20, 2013.
ƒƒ An October 1, 2013 article in The Nation quoted Alex Friedmann in reference to prisons
being big business. “It’s like the hotel industry,” he said. “The hotel industry wants to keep
their beds full as much as possible, because it means more revenue. Same thing for the
private prison companies.”
ƒƒ The Tampa Bay Times quoted Paul Wright in an October 4, 2013 article about privatized
prison medical care.
ƒƒ On October 18, 2013, Courthouse News Service quoted Paul Wright in an article about the
lack of air conditioning and brutal heat that killed 14 prisoners in Texas.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was quoted by WSMV Channel 4 in Nashville on October 18, 2013,
concerning high levels of violence in Tennessee prisons.
ƒƒ The Orlando Sentinel quoted Alex Friedmann on October 19, 2013 about two Florida
prisoners who had escaped using forged court documents.
ƒƒ On October 22, 2013, Alex Friedmann was quoted by WCPO in Cincinnati about the lack
of inspections to ensure that Ohio jails meet state standards. “Who’s guarding the guards
or who’s watching the watchers?” he asked. “When there is no oversight, conditions tend to
deteriorate.”
ƒƒ The Lewiston Tribune quoted Alex Friedmann on October 25, 2013 concerning the violenceprone CCA-operated Idaho Correctional Center.
ƒƒ In the October 25-27, 2013 weekend edition of Counterpunch, PLN’s cover story on the Prison
Rape Elimination Act was mentioned in regard to sexual abuse of juvenile offenders.
ƒƒ A rebuttal editorial by Alex Friedmann, in response to an earlier editorial by CCA vice
president Harley Lappin, was published by the Tennessean on October 26, 2013. Alex’s
editorial was also cited by In These Times, which identified him as being affiliated with “the
ruthless and indispensable newsletter and website, Prison Legal News.”
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was quoted in an October 26, 2013 article in the Palm Beach Post about
dubious cost savings by privately-operated prisons in Florida.
ƒƒ Paul Wright and PLN contributing writers David Reutter and Chris Zoukis were quoted in
an October 31, 2013 article in The American Reader on misconceptions about life in prison.

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ƒƒ PLN was mentioned and Paul Wright was quoted in a November 4, 2013 article in The
Militant on prison censorship issues.
ƒƒ On November 6, 2013, Alex Friedmann was quoted in a lengthy Worcester Telegram article
about the evils of prison privatization.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann was interviewed by WSMV Channel 4 in Nashville for a November 12, 2013
news report on a violent cell extraction at a Tennessee state prison.
ƒƒ A November 12, 2013 article on www.takepart.com cited a PLN cover story about prison
food.
ƒƒ RT (Russian Television) interviewed Alex Friedmann on November 15, 2013 for a news
report on private prison companies.
ƒƒ Linke Zeitung, a German publication, quoted Alex Friedmann in a November 29, 2013 article
about the private prison industry.
ƒƒ The Palm Beach Post quoted Paul Wright in a December 1, 2013 article about prisoners used
on community work crews in Florida. “That sounds like plain old exploitative slavery to
me,” he said. “I don’t think exploiting people makes any kind of work ethic.”
ƒƒ HRDC was mentioned in a brief December 3, 2013 Nashville Post article about Alex
Friedmann’s shareholder resolution filed with CCA to reduce prison phone rates at the
company’s for-profit facilities.
ƒƒ On December 12, 2013, Alex Friedmann was quoted in the Tennessean about the high costs
of phone calls in Tennessee’s prison system.
ƒƒ Alex Friedmann’s letter to the editor on housing Vermont prisoners in out-of-state private
prisons, in response to a previous letter by CCA spokesman Steve Owen, was published by
the Valley News on December 14, 2013.
ƒƒ PLN was cited in a City Paper (Pennsylvania) article on December 19, 2013, regarding
prisoners’ access to public records.
ƒƒ The Daily Business Review profiled PLN on December 20, 2013 in an article about a
censorship suit filed by HRDC against the St. Lucie County Jail in Florida.
ƒƒ On December 26, 2013, the Broward/Palm Beach New Times published a profile of PLN and
PLN editor Paul Wright.

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Litigation Project
Attorneys with HRDC’s Litigation Project provide co-counsel in all censorship and public records
lawsuits involving Prison Legal News. HRDC general counsel Lance Weber also co-counsels select
cases involving prisons and jails with other civil rights attorneys across the country. All of HRDC’s
litigation has a public education and media component that furthers our advocacy efforts with respect to criminal justice reform and prisoners’ rights.
HRDC continues to be heavily involved in litigation, primarily due to censorship issues related to PLN the magazine and PLN book distribution efforts, as well as denials of our public
records requests. PLN litigation continued to generate media coverage in 2013, including articles
in the Washington Post, Associated Press, Dallas Morning News, ABC News, Valley News (NH),
Corrections.com, Times News (TN), Gilmer Mirror (TX), Longview News-Journal (TX), Las Vegas
Review-Journal, Courthouse News Service, Journal Sentinel (WI), New England First Amendment
Coalition, VT Digger, Burlington Free Press, Nashville City Paper and News Journal (TX).
HRDC’s 2013 litigation docket included the following cases; cases that were both filed and
resolved during the year are listed in the “Cases Resolved” section.

New Cases Filed in 2013
CCA Public Records Case in Texas: PLN filed suit in the District Court of Travis County, Texas in
May 2013, alleging that Corrections Corporation of America had failed to respond to public records
requests. PLN had requested a number of records from CCA, including contracts between the
company and state and local government agencies, as well as settlements, verdicts and judgments
entered against CCA in Texas. PLN contended that CCA was the functional equivalent of a government agency performing the inherently public service of operating prisons and jails, and thus must
comply with Texas’ public records statute. CCA operates nine facilities in Texas, including four that
house state prisoners. PLN is represented by attorneys Cindy Saiter Connolly with Scott, Douglass
& McConnico, LLP and Brian McGiverin with the Texas Civil Rights Project. The case is Prison
Legal News v. CCA.
Kenosha County, Wisconsin Jail Censorship Suit: PLN filed suit against Kenosha County, Wisconsin and the Kenosha County Sheriff ’s Office on June 27, 2013; the complaint alleges that the
county jail censored PLN’s books and magazine. In conjunction with the suit, PLN filed a motion
for a preliminary injunction. PLN is represented by the Chicago law firm of Loevy & Loevy and
HRDC general counsel Lance Weber. The case is Prison Legal News v. Beth.
Nevada Department of Corrections Censorship Case: PLN filed a federal lawsuit against the
Nevada Department of Corrections on June 27, 2013. The complaint accuses state prison officials of

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censoring PLN’s books, magazines and correspondence pursuant to their “approved vendors” and
“unauthorized correspondence” policies, as well as policies that prohibit the use of address labels
and require books to be sent to prisoners via first class mail. In 2000, the Nevada Department of
Corrections had settled a censorship suit filed by PLN over similar issues, and agreed that prisoners
“shall be permitted to subscribe to the publications of their choice.” PLN is now seeking declaratory and permanent injunctive relief, as well as damages and payment of attorneys’ fees and costs,
and has moved to hold the Nevada Department of Corrections in contempt for violating the prior
settlement agreement. PLN is represented by Staci Pratt and Allen Lichtenstein, attorneys with the
Nevada ACLU; Ernest Galvan with the San Francisco law firm of Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld;
and HRDC general counsel Lance Weber. The case is Prison Legal News v. Cox.
CCA Public Records Case in Vermont: PLN filed suit in Superior Court in Vermont on June 7, 2013,
alleging that by housing and overseeing Vermont prisoners, CCA is a “public agency” as defined by
the state’s public records law and thus is required to comply with public records requests. The lawsuit
was filed after CCA failed to respond to PLN’s records request related to its incarceration of Vermont
prisoners in out-of-state facilities. PLN has asked the court to declare that CCA is a “public agency”
for purposes of Vermont’s public records law; the suit also seeks reimbursement of costs and attorneys’
fees. CCA filed a motion to dismiss, which remained pending at the end of 2013. PLN is represented
by ACLU of Vermont staff attorney Dan Barrett. The case is Prison Legal News v. CCA.
Comal County, Texas Jail Censorship Suit: PLN filed suit in federal court against Comal County,
Texas on July 8, 2013. The lawsuit alleges that the county jail censored PLN’s books, magazines and
correspondence without adequate due process; a motion for a preliminary injunction was filed, but
was mooted in September 2013 after the jail changed its mail policy. PLN is represented by attorneys
James Harrington and Brian McGiverin with the Texas Civil Rights Project and HRDC general
counsel Lance Weber. The case is Prison Legal News v. Holder.
St. Lucie County, Florida Jail Censorship Case: PLN filed a federal lawsuit against Sheriff Ken J.
Mascara and the St. Lucie County Jail in Florida on December 17, 2013. The complaint alleges that
the jail has a policy which prohibits prisoners from receiving any mail except postcards, including
a prohibition on magazines and books. The suit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief as well as
nominal and compensatory damages. PLN is represented by attorneys Randall Berg and Dante Trevisani with the Florida Justice Institute, and HRDC general counsel Lance Weber and staff attorney
Robert Jack. The case is Prison Legal News v. Mascara.
Virginia Beach Correctional Center Censorship Suit: On July 30, 2013, PLN filed suit in federal
court against Sheriff Kenneth Stolle and the Virginia Beach Correctional Center – the largest jail
in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The lawsuit alleges that the jail censored PLN’s books, magazine and correspondence without adequate due process, in violation of the First and Fourteenth

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Amendments. “Government officials, including those in the Virginia Beach Sheriff ’s Office, should
not be in the business of unconstitutionally censoring the publications citizens can read, even if
those citizens are incarcerated – including those who have not been convicted and are ‘presumed
innocent,’” said HRDC executive director Paul Wright. PLN is represented by Charlottesville attorneys Jeffrey E. Fogel and Steven D. Rosenfield, plus HRDC general counsel Lance Weber. The case
is Prison Legal News v. Stolle.
Sullivan County, Tennessee Jail Censorship Case: PLN filed suit in federal court against Sheriff
Wayne Anderson and the Sullivan County Jail on October 10, 2013. The lawsuit alleges that prisoners can only send and receive postcards, which prevents them from receiving PLN’s magazines and
books in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. In addition to the complaint, PLN
filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to prohibit enforcement of the jail’s restrictive mail
policy. PLN is represented by Tricia Herzfeld with the Nashville firm of Ozment Law, and by HRDC
general counsel Lance Weber. The case is Prison Legal News v. Anderson.
Wrongful Death Case in Washington State: HRDC co-counseled with a Seattle law firm to represent the estate and minor children of Ricardo Mejia, a 26-year-old Washington State prisoner who
died as a result of the deliberate indifference of prison medical staff. Mr. Mejia suffered a horrible,
painful death in January 2011 due to sepsis, septic shock and untreated necrotizing fasciitis (commonly known as flesh-eating bacteria). After pre-litigation settlement discussions with the state, a
wrongful death suit was filed in December 20, 2013 in Thurston County Superior Court alleging
systemic failures by prison medical staff. The case is expected to settle in early 2014 pursuant to the
pre-litigation discussions. Mejia’s estate and two minor children are represented by Jesse Wing with
the law firm of MacDonald Hoague & Bayless, and HRDC general counsel Lance Weber. The case
is Soria v. Washington State Department of Corrections.

Prior Cases Still Pending in 2013
Columbia County, Oregon Jail Censorship Case: PLN filed suit in federal court against Columbia County, Oregon on January 13, 2012. The lawsuit alleges that the jail censored PLN’s magazines
and correspondence pursuant to a postcard-only policy and ban on magazines, and failed to provide adequate due process notice when publications were censored in violation of the First and
Fourteenth Amendments. The court issued a preliminary injunction against the jail in May 2012,
suspending its postcard-only policy and ordering jail officials to deliver magazines to prisoners.
On April 24, 2013, following a bench trial, the district court found that the postcard-only policy at
the Columbia County jail was unconstitutional and entered a permanent injunction. This was the
first time in American history that a court had struck down a jail’s postcard-only policy following a
trial on the merits. The county and PLN subsequently settled the damages claims still at issue in the

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lawsuit. The county filed a notice of appeal which remained pending at the end of 2013, and PLN’s
motion for attorneys’ fees and costs also remained pending. PLN is represented by attorneys Jesse
Wing and Katherine Chamberlain of MacDonald Hoague and Bayless, Marc D. Blackman with the
Portland law firm of Ransom Blackman, LLP and HRDC attorney Lance Weber. The case is Prison
Legal News v. Columbia County.
CCA Wrongful Death Suits in Hawaii: HRDC filed separate lawsuits against Corrections Corporation of America over the deaths of two Hawaiian prisoners at CCA’s Saguaro Correctional Center
in Arizona. Because the State of Hawaii contracts with CCA to house prisoners in Saguaro, the State
of Hawaii and the Hawaii Department of Public Safety were also named as defendants. The family
of Bronson Nunuha sued CCA on February 15, 2012; Nunuha had been placed in a controversial
behavior modification program at the CCA-run prison, where he was brutally murdered by two
members of a rival gang. Clifford Medina’s family sued CCA on May 23, 2012; Medina was housed
in a segregation cell with another prisoner who threatened to kill him and eventually strangled
him to death. The lawsuits claim that the deaths were due to understaffing, deliberate indifference
to prisoners’ safety and CCA’s negligence in running the Saguaro facility. The Nunuha and Medina
families are represented by HRDC, the San Francisco law firm of Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld,
LLP and the Hawaii ACLU. The cases are Estate of Nunuha v. State of Hawaii and Estate of Medina
v. State of Hawaii.
Walton County, Georgia Jail Censorship Case: PLN filed a federal lawsuit against Walton County,
Georgia on September 21, 2012. The complaint accuses the Walton County jail of censoring PLN’s
books, magazines and correspondence due to a postcard-only policy and a ban on books and magazines. The district court granted in part and denied in part PLN’s motion for a preliminary injunction on March 26, 2013, and a trial is scheduled in February 2014. PLN is represented by attorneys
Brian Spears, Gerry Weber, Jeff Filipovits and Andrew Wan, as well as HRDC general counsel
Lance Weber. The case is Prison Legal News v. Chapman.
Livingston County, Michigan Jail Censorship Suit: PLN filed suit against Livingston County,
Michigan and Sheriff Bob Bezotte on August 9, 2011. The federal lawsuit alleges that the county jail
“adopted and implemented written mail policies and practices that unconstitutionally restrict correspondence to prisoners via postcards only...,” and raises claims under the First and Fourteenth
Amendments. The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment on December 5, 2013, which
remains pending. PLN is represented by attorneys Thomas M. Loeb, Brian J. Prain and Daniel E.
Manville, plus HRDC general counsel Lance Weber. The case is Prison Legal News v. Bezotte.
Pinal County, Arizona Jail Censorship Suit: On September 7, 2011, PLN filed suit against Pinal
County, Arizona and Sheriff Paul Babeu challenging the county jail’s ban on all books, magazines
and non-postcard mail, and the denial of due process when such mail is censored. After the lawsuit

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was filed, the county claimed that the censorship was a “mistake.” On March 20, 2013, the district
court granted in part and denied in part the parties’ cross motions for partial summary judgment.
In May 2013, PLN filed an interlocutory appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. PLN is
represented by Dan Pochoda with the Arizona ACLU, the San Francisco law firm of Rosen Bien
Galvan & Grunfeld, LLP, and HRDC general counsel Lance Weber. The case is Prison Legal News
v. Babeu.
Florida Statewide Ban on Prison Legal News: On November 17, 2011, PLN filed suit challenging
a statewide ban on Prison Legal News by the Florida Department of Corrections (FDOC); the ban
is purportedly based on PLN’s advertising content, including pen pal ads. PLN previously sued
the FDOC over a similar policy in 2003, but that case was dismissed as moot after the defendants
changed their policy just before trial and assured the court that PLN would not be banned based on
its advertisements. Private prison companies GEO Group and Corrections Corporation of America
are also named as defendants in this case, as they also censor PLN at their Florida facilities. Although set for trial in August 2013, the trial was postponed by the court and the case remained
pending at the end of 2013. PLN is represented by Randall Berg, Josh Glickman and Dante Trevisani
with the Florida Justice Institute, Randall Marshall with the Florida ACLU, and HRDC general
counsel Lance Weber. The case is Prison Legal News v. Crews.
CCA Infant Wrongful Death Suit in Tennessee: On November 17, 2011, HRDC and attorneys Andrew Clarke and Luther Sutter filed lawsuits in federal and state court in Tennessee on behalf of former prisoner Countess Clemons and the estate of Roland Clemons, her deceased infant child. The
suits claim that Corrections Corporation of America was deliberately indifferent to Ms. Clemons’
serious medical needs when CCA employees at the Silverdale Detention Facility in Chattanooga,
where Ms. Clemons was incarcerated, did not timely take her to a hospital when she began experiencing preterm labor. Upon arrival at the hospital over five hours after she first requested assistance
from CCA staff, her son Roland was born but died shortly afterward. The state court cases were
dropped in 2013 and the federal lawsuits remain pending; the latter cases are Clemons v. CCA and
Luhowiak v. Smith.
BOP FOIA Suit: In September 2005, PLN filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) suit in the
District of Columbia against the federal Bureau of Prisons, seeking records related to all cases over
a multi-year period in which the BOP paid any funds to resolve claims or lawsuits. The BOP responded to PLN’s FOIA request by trying to charge a ridiculous amount of money to search for and
copy the requested records. The district court ruled in PLN’s favor on June 26, 2006 and ordered
the BOP to provide the records at no charge. The BOP produced some of the requested records but
most were redacted or incomplete. In March 2009, the court ordered the BOP to “conduct anew its
searches for the records sought by plaintiff,” or to demonstrate the adequacy of its search. PLN filed
five motions for summary judgment in this case; on July 23, 2013 the district court granted summa-

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ry judgment to the defendants. PLN appealed to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals in August 2013,
and also has moved for attorneys’ fees and costs as the prevailing party, because the suit resulted in
the BOP producing the requested records. PLN was represented before the district court by Washington, DC attorney Ed Elder, the Partnership for Civil Justice and HRDC general counsel Lance
Weber. On appeal, PLN is represented by the Washington, DC law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine,
LLP and HRDC general counsel Lance Weber. The case is Prison Legal News v. Samuels (previously
Prison Legal News v. Lappin).
Orleans Parish, Louisiana Jail Censorship Case: On September 9, 2011, PLN filed suit against the
Orleans Parish Jail in New Orleans, Louisiana, challenging the jail’s ban on books and magazines and
the denial of due process notice when such reading materials are censored. The Orleans Parish Jail
entered into a consent judgment and changed its mail policies in December 2011, and settled the case
by paying damages in September 2012. The issue of attorneys’ fees and costs remained pending as of
the end of 2013. PLN is represented by New Orleans attorneys Mary Howell, Elizabeth Cumming and
John Adcock, and HRDC general counsel Lance Weber. The case is Prison Legal News v. Gusman.

Cases Resolved in 2013
CCA Public Records Case in Tennessee: In May 2008, PLN managing editor Alex Friedmann sued
Corrections Corporation of America in state court under Tennessee’s public records act, seeking disclosure of certain records related to CCA’s operation of prisons and jails in Tennessee. The trial court
held, for the first time, that a private prison company was subject to the state’s public records statute,
and CCA appealed. In August 2009 the Court of Appeals found that CCA was the functional equivalent of a state agency and therefore subject to the public records law; in a revised ruling on September
16, 2009, the appellate court clarified that the records requested by PLN were subject to disclosure
for all but one CCA-operated state prison in Tennessee. On remand, the trial court held on December 1, 2011 that CCA must disclose the remaining records at issue in the case, including verdicts and
settlements in lawsuits against the company. CCA again appealed and the Court of Appeals affirmed
on February 28, 2013, holding the company must produce the requested records. Following remand,
CCA settled the case in May 2013 by producing the records and paying attorney’s fees. Alex was represented by Memphis attorney Andrew Clarke; the case was Friedmann v. CCA.
Umatilla County, Oregon Jail Censorship Case: PLN filed suit in federal court against Sheriff John Trumbo and the Umatilla County Jail in Oregon in June 2012. The jail had adopted and
implemented a policy that restricted correspondence to and from prisoners to postcards only. The
policy also prohibited the delivery of books, catalogs, newspapers and magazines that had not been
pre-approved by the jail, and did not afford due process when publications and correspondence
were rejected. PLN accepted an offer of judgment by the county to resolve PLN’s damages claims in

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August 2012, after the jail had changed its mail policy. On May 16, 2013, the district court awarded
attorneys’ fees and costs to PLN. PLN was represented by HRDC general counsel Lance Weber and
former staff attorney Alissa Hull, Jesse Wing and Katherine Chamberlain with the Seattle law firm
of MacDonald Hoague & Bayless, and Marc D. Blackman with the Portland firm of Ransom Blackman, LLP. The case was Prison Legal News v. Umatilla County.
Upshur County, Texas Jail Censorship Suit: In November 2012, PLN filed suit seeking injunctive and declaratory relief, damages and attorneys’ fees and costs against the Upshur County Jail
in Texas for censoring magazines, periodicals and mail addressed to prisoners, in violation of the
First and Fourteenth Amendments. PLN simultaneously filed a motion for a preliminary injunction, asking the court to prohibit the jail from continuing to censor publications sent to prisoners.
On September 30, 2013, the district court granted PLN’s motion for a preliminary injunction, finding: “The evidence suggests that at least some of PLN’s correspondence with prisoners has been
withheld from its intended recipients, depriving Plaintiff of its First Amendment rights without
due process of law.” The case settled in December 2013 with the county agreeing to pay damages,
attorneys’ fees and costs. PLN was represented by attorneys Thomas S. Leatherbury, Sean W. Kelly,
Kimberly R. McCoy and Marissa A. Wilson with the Dallas law firm of Vinson & Elkins, LLP, Scott
Medlock and Brian McGiverin with the Texas Civil Rights Project, and HRDC general counsel
Lance Weber. The case was Prison Legal News v. Betterton.
Wrongful Death Suit in Pennsylvania: HRDC attorneys co-counseled with Jonathan Feinberg at
the Philadelphia firm of Kairys Rudovsky Messing Feinberg in a case involving the suicide of a prisoner at a privately-operated jail facility. The case resolved pre-litigation pursuant to a confidential
settlement that was finalized in October 2013.

Amicus Briefs
HRDC joined in an amicus brief submitted to the New Hampshire Supreme Court of Appeals
on December 23, 2013 in John Doe v. State of New Hampshire. This case involves the issue of sex offender registries, and how such registries constitute a form of punishment applied to offenders who
already have low recidivism rates. Other amici partners in this case included Citizens for Criminal
Justice Reform (CCJR), Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), Women Against
Registry, and Reform Sex Offender Laws, Inc.
HRDC also joined in an amicus brief submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court on July 19, 2013 in
support of a petition for writ of certiorari in Matkin v. Barrett. HRDC and other amici partners,
which included the Florida Justice Institute, National Police Accountability Project and Southern
Center for Human Rights, asked the Supreme Court to review an Eleventh Circuit decision that
upheld strip search policies at a jail in Fulton County, Georgia. The certiorari petition was denied
in November 2013.

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Other Activities & Achievements
Campaign for Prison Phone Justice
HRDC co-founded the national Campaign for Prison Phone Justice in 2011, with Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net) – a project of the Center for Media Justice – and Working
Narratives/Nation Inside. The campaign’s website is www.phonejustice.org, while HRDC maintains
a site for prison phone-related data at www.prisonphonejustice.org.
In 2013, HRDC continued to pressure the FCC to reduce the cost of prison phone calls and
filed a comprehensive comment on March 25, 2013 in support of the Wright Petition – the proceeding before the FCC to cap interstate prison phone rates. HRDC also submitted a reply comment
in April 2013, and encouraged individual and organizational members of the Campaign for Prison
Phone Justice to contact the FCC. Further, in June, HRDC hired David Ganim as our national
prison phone justice director.
On July 10, 2013, HRDC associate director Alex Friedmann and David Ganim attended an
FCC workshop on prison phone issues held at the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC. Alex
testified on a panel at the workshop; he noted that by lowering prison phone rates, prisoners will
stay better connected with their families while incarcerated and have increased chances of success
after they are released, resulting in lower recidivism rates.
One month after the workshop, on August 9, 2013, the FCC voted 2 to 1 to enact a number
of prison phone industry reforms, including capping interstate phone rates at $.21 per minute for
debit and pre-paid calls and $.25 per minute for collect calls. Following this historic vote, PLN and
HRDC were quoted or cited nearly 20 times in newspapers, magazines, blogs and TV news reports,
including the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Washington Post, Colorlines.com, Free Press, Los Angeles
Times, Rolling Stone, Sun Sentinel, The Crime Report, www.thehill.com, the Tennessean, USA Today
and WSMV-TV Channel 4 in Nashville.
The FCC’s order was issued in September 2013 and published in the Federal Register in
November; it will go into effect in early 2014.
In December 2013, PLN published a comprehensive cover story on the prison phone industry,
including updated state-by-state prison phone rates and commission-related data.
On December 20, 2013, HRDC submitted comments on the FCC’s Further Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking in the Wright Petition, encouraging the FCC to extend to intrastate prison phone rates
the rate caps and other reforms related to interstate phone calls. HRDC also urged the FCC to
address issues related to quality of prison phone services and ancillary fees charged by prison phone
companies.

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Washington Prison Phone Justice Campaign
Following the success of the national Campaign for Prison Phone Justice, and after receiving
cy pres funds from a prison phone-related class-action lawsuit in Washington State, HRDC began
to organize its first statewide prison phone justice campaign in Washington in late 2013.
HRDC prison phone justice director David Ganim submitted public records requests to all 39
Washington county jails for copies of their phone contracts, phone rates and commission data. He
is currently preparing a comprehensive report and analysis on the cost of prison and jail phone calls
in Washington State; the report should be finalized by mid-2014.
In December 2013, HRDC hired Carrie Wilkinson to direct the Washington Prison Phone
Justice Campaign, with the goal of ending prison and jail phone commissions and reducing the cost
of intrastate phone rates in Washington State.
By the end of 2013, HRDC had partnered with Working Narratives to develop the website for
the Washington Prison Phone Justice Campaign (www.wappj.org), and Carrie had started reaching
out to campaign allies in Washington, including Columbia Legal Services. The statewide campaign
is also being promoted through notices in PLN.
CCA and GEO Shareholder Resolutions
In November 2012, HRDC associate director Alex Friedmann, who owns a small amount of
stock in Corrections Corporation of America, filed a shareholder resolution with CCA related to the
company’s then-pending conversion to a real estate investment trust (REIT). The resolution would
have required CCA to disclose certain information about its REIT con­version to shareholders; specifically, CCA would have to inform shareholders about its prior conversion to a REIT in 1999, which
resulted in a drastic drop in the company’s stock price, a reverse stock split and shareholder lawsuits.
CCA filed a no-action request with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeking to
exclude the resolution, and the SEC ruled in the company’s favor in March 2013. CCA subsequently
completed its conversion to a REIT.
In November 2013, Alex filed shareholder resolutions with both CCA and GEO Group that
would require the companies to reduce the rates charged for inmate telephone services (ITS) at
their facilities. The resolutions noted that “prisoners who maintain close connections with their
families have a lesser chance of reoffending after release, thereby reducing recidivism. However,
high ITS rates impose a financial burden that impedes such connections. Lower ITS rates would
facilitate more communication between prisoners and their families and children.”
Specifically, the resolutions would require CCA and GEO to forgo prison phone “commission”
kickbacks and give the greatest consideration to the overall lowest phone charges among the factors
they consider when evaluating and entering into prison phone contracts. GEO Group filed a noaction request with the SEC in late December 2013, and CCA is expected to file a similar request.
The shareholder resolutions remained pending at the end of 2013.
Attorneys Jeffrey Lowenthal and Jonathan Burke with the law firm of Stroock & Stroock &
Lavan, LLP represent Alex pro bono before the SEC.

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Private Prison Information Act
On December 18, 2012, HRDC and UC Berkeley doctoral student Christopher Petrella coauthored a letter to U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, urging her to reintroduce the Private
Prison Information Act (PPIA) during the 113th Congress. The PPIA would require private prison
companies that contract with federal agencies to comply with the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) to the same extent as public correctional facilities, which would result in increased transparency and accountability at private prisons that house federal prisoners.
Throughout 2013, HRDC and Chris worked with Congressional staff to draft the PPIA legislation, though it was not introduced by the end of the year. Over 30 organizations have signed on to a
letter urging the reintroduction of the PPIA. Joining the campaign in 2013 were the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Texas Jail Project, CCPOA, Prison Watch Network, Prison Reform Movement, National Prison Divestment Campaign and Harvard Law School Professor Charles Ogletree.
See: www.privateprisoninformationactof2013.com.
Temple University Ethics Complaint
On June 25, 2013, PLN managing editor Alex Friedmann filed an ethics complaint with Temple
University against Professors Simon Hakim and Erwin Blackstone, who had published a research
study lauding the benefits of prison privatization in April 2013.
The complaint alleges that the study as initially released did not disclose that it had been
funded by private prison companies, including industry leaders CCA, GEO Group and MTC. The
ethics complaint further notes that Hakim and Blackstone submitted editorials to newspapers in at
least five states regarding their research findings, and failed to disclose in all but one of the editorials that they had received funding from private prison companies.
In response, Alex submitted rebuttal editorials to the same newspapers that published the
editorials by Professors Hakim and Blackstone. Four of the counter-editorials were published, in
the Detroit Free Press, Morning Sentinel (ME), Sun Sentinel (FL) and Oklahoman between May and
June 2013. The ethics complaint filed with Temple University remains pending.
First Amendment Award
On July 25, 2013, the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), which is dedicated to encouraging the free practice of journalism, upholding high standards of ethics in that field and protecting
First Amendment guarantees of freedom of speech and the press, announced that HRDC was the
recipient of the SPJ’s annual First Amendment Award.
“The organization’s advocacy and legal action has resulted in court victories for publishers and
hundreds of thousands of prisoners all over the U.S.,” the SPJ noted.
HRDC was nominated for the First Amendment Award by Ian Urbina, Washington correspondent for The New York Times. Prior recipients of the award have included Supreme Court
Justices William Brennan and William Douglas.
HRDC executive director Paul Wright accepted the award at the SPJ’s Excellence in Journalism conference on August 26, 2013.

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Collaborations and Affiliations
HRDC collaborated with other organizations in 2013 on a variety of advocacy efforts, reports,
campaigns and other projects – including MAG-Net and Working Narratives (Campaign for Prison Phone Justice), the Prison Policy Initiative, Private Corrections Institute, In the Public Interest
and Grassroots Leadership. Additionally, HRDC and its staff maintained the following affiliations
with other groups:
ƒƒ HRDC executive director Paul Wright is a member of the National Lawyers Guild and
serves on the board of the NLG’s National Police Accountability Project. He is also a member
of the American Correctional Association and American Jail Association.
ƒƒ HRDC associate director Alex Friedmann serves in a volunteer, non-compensated capacity
as president of the Private Corrections Institute, a non-profit watchdog group that opposes
prison privatization. He also volunteers as a consultant to the Presbyterian Criminal Justice
Network and works with the Tennessee Consultation on Criminal Justice, serves on the
advisory board of the Prison Policy Initiative and is a member of the National Lawyers
Guild and National CURE. At the end of 2013 he completed a three-year term as a board
member for Reconciliation, a Nashville-based non-profit organization that advocates and
provides services for families of Tennessee prisoners.
ƒƒ HRDC general counsel Lance Weber is a member of the National Lawyers Guild’s National
Police Accountability Project, the First Amendment Lawyers Association, the American
Bar Association’s Civil Rights Litigation Committee, and the American Bar Association’s
First Amendment and Media Litigation Committee.
ƒƒ HRDC staff attorney Robert Jack is a member of the National Lawyers Guild and the
NLG’s National Police Accountability Project.
ƒƒ HRDC prison phone justice director David Ganim is a member of the Broward County
Bar Association, paralegal section and is on the stewardship committee of the United
Church of Christ-Fort Lauderdale.
ƒƒ HRDC maintained organizational memberships with the Raising the Bar Coalition and the
Public Safety and Justice Campaign.

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Looking Forward: Goals for 2014
We are pleased with HRDC’s progress during 2013 in terms of our media outreach, litigation project
and advocacy efforts, among other activities. PLN’s website continues to be an important source
of news and legal research for prisoners’ rights advocates, policy makers, academics, researchers,
journalists, prisoners’ family members, attorneys and other people involved in criminal justice and
corrections-related issues.
Our litigation project continued to be busy throughout 2013 due to ongoing censorship of
Prison Legal News and the books we distribute by prison and jail officials. We anticipate filing additional legal challenges in 2014, specifically concerning postcard-only policies enacted by a growing
number of county jails.
Further, HRDC will continue to co-coordinate the Campaign for Prison Phone Justice and
advocate for lower in-state prison and jail phone rates nationally. One of our top goals for 2014 includes reopening our Seattle office and launching the Washington Prison Phone Justice Campaign,
with the objective of ending commission kickbacks and lowering costs for prison and jail phone
calls in Washington State.
Our book publishing plans include publishing an updated edition of The Habeas Citebook:
Ineffective Assistance of Counsel plus one new self-help litigation title. We continue to seek new
books to distribute that are of interest to our prisoner readership, and encourage book ideas and
submissions from qualified authors.
Another major goal for 2014 is to revamp and modernize HRDC’s three websites, which include the HRDC, Prison Legal News and Prison Phone Justice sites. Other ongoing goals include
building HRDC’s organizational capacity, expanding our fundraising efforts and funding sources,
and continuing to advocate for criminal justice reforms that are critical but largely ignored, including issues related to the federal Bureau of Prisons and the environmental impact of correctional
facilities.

Recent news articles published
about PLN and HRDC
Justice Watch: Prison Legal News is Filing,
Winning Federal Lawsuits
By John Pacenti
Daily Business Review
December 20, 2013

The October issue of Prison Legal News contained one story
entitled, “How many inmate deaths is too many?”
Another article addressed a Justice Department investigation
into widespread sexual abuse in Alabama women’s prisons by
male guards, while another took a look at what led to a
mentally ill prisoner in Illinois to die on a hunger strike.
Sprinkled throughout the edition were advertisements offering,
for instance, the newest edition of “The Prisoner’s Self-Help
Litigation Manual.”
Every issue of Prison Legal News contains news inmates can
use, but many jails and some prisons don’t want them to have
it.
Paul Wright, who started the publication from his Washington
state jail cell in the 1990s, has fought back, filing dozens of
lawsuits against state and counties across the country in the
last decade. He has recently moved operations from Vermont
to Lake Worth.
Wright is the founder and executive director of the Human
Rights Defense Center and editor of Prison Legal News. He
challenges corrections policies keeping out his publication and
other types of correspondence—even letters from family and
friends.
Wright served 17 years in prison after being convicted of
killing a man in the robbery of a cocaine dealer when he was
21. By the time he was released in 2003, Prison Legal News
was more than a decade old and had broken numerous stories
about inmate exploitation.
The magazine and its parent, Human Rights Defense Center,
filed its latest legal salvo last week, a federal complaint
against St. Lucie County Sheriff Kenneth J. Mascara.
‘Unconstitutional’
The lawsuit challenges a department policy requiring all
incoming mail to be on postcards—a get-tough-on-criminals
approach started by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio in
Arizona.
The litigation assigned to U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez
in Fort Pierce claims the policy is unconstitutional because it

de facto bans Prison Legal News.
Its “publications, books and other materials ... are political
speech and social commentary, which are at the core of First
Amendment values and are entitled to the highest protection
afforded by the U.S. Constitution,” according to the lawsuit.
Adam Fetterman, an attorney with the St. Lucie Sheriff’s
Department, said he is reviewing the case.
“Despite numerous outside cases by Prison Legal News, there
are a number of court decisions that are favorable to the sheriff
in regards to security issues,” he said.
Wright’s newsprint magazine is serious journalism.
In 1994, Wright reported then-Republican U.S. Rep. Jack
Metcalf was using prison labor to staff his get-out-the-vote
telemarketing campaign. Two years later, Wright exposed how
Microsoft Corp. was using prison labor to package some of its
software.
Then in 2006, Prison Legal News, which also goes by PLN,
revealed the Kansas Department of Corrections employed
relatives of the founder of the extremist Westboro Baptist
Church of Topeka, Kan. The church is known for picketing
the funerals of U.S. soldiers and gay murder victims.
St. Lucie is hardly the only legal battle being waged by
Wright. In total, Wright and his organization have filed about
two dozen lawsuits across the country since 2000 to get the
publication into the hands of inmates. They usually end in
consent decrees or policy changes.
So why are prisons and jails so worried about inmates reading
a magazine highlighting issues important to them?
Mission to educate
“I can only guess that prison officials are worried about being
held accountable for their actions because PLN’s mission is to
educate prisoners about the legal system and their rights and
sort of give them hope and obtain relief for constitutional
violations by using the judicial system,” said Lance Weber,
general counsel for the Human Rights Defense Center.
The magazine has about 9,000 subscribers and gets passed
around so much by inmates that Weber estimates readership at
100,000 per issue.
The suit against the St. Lucie sheriff claims the jail also is
rejecting books to help inmates file pro se pleadings, turning
away 31 copies of a book on the subject from February 2012
to August 2013.
As a result, the inmates’ constitutional right to free speech and
their due process rights under the 14th Amendment are being
violated, the suit claims.

Postcard-only policies are counterintuitive to Weber. He noted
many people in jail are there for the first time, either waiting
for court proceedings or serving minor sentences. They are
often battling addiction and chaos at home, and trying to
become employable after they get out. He said curtailing
correspondence short circuits the re-entry process.
“Postcard-only policies are cutting off communication and
getting in the way of rehabilitation,” Weber said.
Florida sued
Attorney Randall Berg, executive director of the Florida
Justice Institute in Miami, said his organization has teamed up
with Wright to challenge prisons and jails on mail policy in
lawsuits in Florida.
“Why don’t you want these people to educate themselves?”
Berg asked. “They need to know stuff that’s dealing with their
health and safety, their legal rights.”
The St. Lucie lawsuit is not challenging the need to review
inmate mail, but Berg said a liberal mailing policy is important
for jail inmates to keep employment avenues open as well.
He noted the U.S. Bureau of Prisons doesn’t have Draconian
policies on correspondence and neither do most state prisons.
“If prisoners in state and federal facilities are allowed to
receive letters and books, pre-trial detainees should be able to
do so, as well,” he said.
Not all state prisons are playing ball with Prison Legal News.
Weber said Florida reneged on a deal made in 2004 to allow
the publication over the wall.
“They claim the reason is the content of our advertising. PLN
carries ads for services prisoners are not allowed, such as for
pen pals and stamps,” Weber said. “Other states have policies
like that, but they don’t ban PLN. They ban correspondence
with the vendor.”
The lawsuit is pending in Tallahassee federal court.
Source:http://www.dailybusinessreview.com/PubArticleDBR.jsp?id=1202634
255622&Justice_Watch_Prison_Legal_News_Is_Filing_Winning_Federal_La
wsuits&slreturn=20131123093819

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Battling Censorship Behind Bars
How Prisons and Jails Are Barring Inmates’ Access to Legal
News, Literature, and Letters
By Andrea Jones
The American Reader
May 2013

In November 2008, a mail-order book addressed to Lou
Johnson arrived at the Hilltop Unit, a state prison for women
located in Gatesville, central Texas. Written by investigative
journalist Silja Talvi, the book was titled Women Behind

Bars: The Crisis of Women in the U.S. Prison System, and
chronicled the past decades’ sweeping upsurge in female
incarceration as told through the stories of prisoners across the
country. Talvi’s interviews cast light on the common threads
of trauma and abuse these women shared, the increase in
nonviolent drug charges that put them behind bars, and the
troubling conditions they found inside.
Johnson, one of the women interviewed for the project,
described the harsh and humiliating circumstances she
endured at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ)
facility. Denied adequate medical care, refused meals for
minor infractions such as talking in line, and forced to clean
pipe chases “covered with fecal material” without gloves,
Johnson summed up her experience as “cruel and unusual
punishment.”
But Johnson was barred from reading her own account in
print, as well as from accessing the testimonies of the one
hundred other female prisoners interviewed for Women
Behind Bars. By the time her copy arrived at the Hilltop Unit
mailroom, the book had already been censored at another
TDCJ facility. Johnson received a form explaining that an
offending passage on page 38 depicted “sex with a minor,”
therefore the publication as a whole was “detrimental to
offenders’ rehabilitation” because it would encourage “deviant
criminal behavior.” She attempted to appeal the decision to no
avail; having never received the book to review the contents of
page 38, she was in no position to present a compelling
rebuttal.
“Prison walls do not form a barrier separating prison inmates
from the protections of the Constitution,” the U.S. Supreme
Court found in its 1987 Turner v. Safley decision. While
inmates are not entitled to full First Amendment rights, any
encroachment on their freedom of speech must be “reasonably
related to legitimate penological objectives.”
While both publishers and prisoners have standing to
challenge prison censorship policies that restrict opportunities
to send and receive literature, in practice publishers are far
better equipped—they are free from the legal restrictions that
bind the incarcerated, and can actually access the material in
question. But commercial magazines and booksellers rarely
act upon notice that the material they’ve mailed has been
seized or withheld; prison inmates don’t represent a
sufficiently marketable demographic.
Women Behind Bars, however, was distributed by Prison
Legal News (PLN), which, as the only national publication
whose majority of contributors and subscribers are state and
federal prisoners, is deeply invested in combating prison
censorship. “That’s our core constituency,” says editor Paul
Wright. Wright founded the magazine in 1990 while serving
out a sentence for first-degree murder in Washington State. As
a twenty-one-year-old military policeman, Wright was broke
and a week away from completing his service when he tried to
rob a cocaine dealer who turned out to have a gun. Wright
panicked and shot first, and was sentenced to twenty-five
years.

In prison, he worked as a book fetcher at the facility’s law
library, and grew interested in prison conditions litigation.
With fellow inmate Ed Mead, he began PLN as a ten-page
hand-typed newsletter with a readership of just seventy-five
aimed at raising political consciousness and informing
prisoners of their rights. The censorship was immediate. In
1991, Wright reported on pervasive racism at Washington’s
Clallam Bay Corrections Center, and a specific incident in
which a group of white guards brutalized a black inmate.
Prison authorities redacted the incriminating sections for
circulation inside Clallam Bay, and when they found out that
PLN had been distributed to subscribers outside of the facility,
subjected Wright to three weeks of solitary confinement.
Wright, who was released in 2003 after serving seventeen
years of his twenty-five year sentence, says that over the past
few decades, censorship practices in prisons and jails have
grown startlingly worse. PLN—which now has 7,000 print
subscribers in all fifty states, with reader surveys indicating
that each issue is passed around to ten different inmates—has
faced blanket censorship in over ten state prisons systems, and
countless bans in local jails across the country. The magazine
was impelled to establish the Human Rights Defense Center, a
legal nonprofit dedicated to protecting subscribers’ right to
read. It also launched a book publishing operation to distribute
titles that, despite limited commercial appeal, are vital to
incarcerated populations, such as Prisoners’ Self Help
Litigation Manual, Hepatitis and Liver Disease: What You
Need to Know, and Beyond Bars: Rejoining Society After
Prison. Which brings us back to Texas.
Page 38 of Women Behind Bars, it turned out, described the
childhood ordeals faced by Tina Thomas, a neurologist and
professor in a teaching college who battled drug addiction late
in her career:
What is even more remarkable about Thomas is that
she had overcome the kind of childhood trauma that
might have completely derailed her adult life. It
might have been precisely that background that first
propelled her to become an overachiever and attain a
high level of professional success, but then came
back to haunt her just as she had gotten to where she
wanted to go. The dark secret of her life was that she
had been forced to perform fellatio on her uncle when
she was just four years old. Thomas explains that this
unresolved trauma became “the template for a
lifetime of distrust, fear, uncertainty, and a spirit of
self-negation.”
“Fellatio” was the word flagged by TDCJ as depicting “sex
with a minor.” Despite the fact that the controversial passage
was more likely to prevail upon readers who had endured
similar traumas that theirs was not a solitary struggle, Women
Behind Bars was withheld from Texas prisoners for its
purported encouragement of “deviant criminal behavior.”
In 2009, PLN filed a lawsuit against TDCJ for censoring
Women Behind Bars, as well as additional incarceration-

related books it had attempted to send to prisoners in Texas.
The complaint alleged what amounted to pretextual
censorship: the statewide system—the largest in the country—
was using cherry-picked words or phrases as grounds to ban
entire books, many of which were literary classics, awardwinners, or collections of artwork. Even more unsettling was
the department’s widespread censorship of works discussing
civil rights issues, and works critical of prison conditions or
corruption. In the course of litigation TDCJ’s banned books
list finally surfaced; it included nearly 12,000 volumes.
On its face, the prison system’s policy set off few alarms. The
policy called for banning books containing contraband;
instructions for the manufacture of explosives, weapons, or
drugs; suggestions for escape schemes; sexually explicit
images; material designed to provoke strikes, gang violence,
or rioting; and subject matter encouraging deviant criminal
sexual behavior.
These rules were twisted, however, to lift passages or images
out of context, and once one facility banned a text, it was
prohibited on a statewide scale. Each book was allowed only
one appeal (often undertaken by inmates in the same Catch-22
scenario as Johnson) before being permanently censored.
As noted by the Texas Civil Rights Project, the majority of
banned books fell into the two most nebulous threat
categories: promoting deviant sexual behavior, and inciting
disorder through strikes, gang violence, or riots. Wide tracts of
literature grappling with challenging themes like race, sex, and
poverty were denied at the discretion of prison authorities,
with no clear link to penological objectives. Books by Pulitzer
Prize-winning authors like Jeffrey Eugenides, Sinclair Lewis,
Norman Mailer, Annie Proulx, Philip Roth, Art Spiegelman,
Wallace Stegner, John Updike, Robert Penn Warren, and
Alice Walker were deemed unfit. The Color Purple, for
example, was banned for its opening scene of sexual abuse—
Celie’s ensuing struggle for empowerment amid racism and
patriarchy were of no value according to TDCJ’s mailroom
inspectors.
Some denials were so absurd they barely merit mention (the
Renaissance painting depicting a naked Cupid on the cover of
Shakespeare and Love Sonnets as “sexually explicit,” for
instance). But broad trends were evident. Racial slurs, in
allegedly threatening to ignite antagonisms, were identified as
an easy premise for censorship, never mind the historical
context in which they were cited. Kevin Boyle’s Arc of
Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz
Age—which traces the trial of Ossian Sweet and residential
segregation in 1925 Detroit—was censored because of slurs
attributed to members of a white mob: “‘There goes some
niggers now,’ came the cries. ‘Lynch them! Kill them!’ A
gang of white men surged toward the car…” Far from inciting
violence, Boyle’s account gives insight into one of the
century’s great civil rights campaigns, and was a recipient of
the National Book Award for Nonfiction and the Simon
Wiesenthal Center’s Tolerance Book Award.

Even in explicitly anti-racist frames of reference, like a
segment on freedom of expression from Chomsky on
Anarchism, the inclusion of derogatory language led to the
work to be condemned:
“[V]ictories for freedom of speech are often won in
defense of the most depraved and horrendous views.
The 1969 Supreme Court decision was in defense of
the Ku Klux Klan from prosecution after meeting
with hooded figures, guns, and a burning cross,
calling for ‘burying the nigger,’ and ‘sending the
Jews back to Israel.’ With regard to freedom of
speech there are basically two positions: you defend
it vigorously for views you hate, or you reject it.”
Chomsky was censored for using racist language to prove a
point, denouncing the “depraved and horrendous views”
associated with it, while publications like Mein Kampf and
The Aryan Youth Primer: Official Handbook for Schooling
the Hitler Youth were somehow accepted by TDCJ without
challenge.
Books incriminating prison institutions were overwhelmingly
censored for mentioning rape, despite the topic’s critical
relevance. Prison Masculinities, a collection of essays edited
by prison mental health experts, was banned for its candid
discussion of sexual assault and violence behind bars. The
Perpetual Prisoner Machine, a look into the profit motives
driving mass incarceration, was barred for quoting a 1968
report from the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office on the
problem’s prevalence in local jails. Even self-help and
rehabilitative titles about the prevention of violent sexual
behavior, like Stopping Rape: A Challenge for Men, and
Conspiracy of Silence: The Trauma of Incest, were prohibited
by TDCJ.
“Prison authorities like docile, uninformed masses of people
because they’re easier to control and dominate,” says Wright.
“You can’t divorce the issue of prison censorship from prison
education. These policy choices ensure that prisoners, the
majority of whom have very low literacy levels, are going to
remain that way.” According to the Department of Education,
“incarcerated adults have among the lowest academic skill
levels and highest disability and illiteracy rates of any segment
of our society.” Multiple studies have demonstrated that
educational programming improves prison safety and reduces
recidivism rates by providing problem-solving skills and
minimizing tensions inside facilities, while preparing inmates
for employment and community reintegration upon release. A
2004 study published in the Journal of Correctional Education
collected a decade’s worth of research on post-secondary
correctional education (PSCE), finding that “inmates who
participated in PSCE recidivated 22 percent of the time and
those not participating in PSCE had a recidivism rate of 41
percent.”
Although the number of Americans in state and federal prison
systems has quintupled since 1980, funding for education
behind bars has declined dramatically. President Clinton’s
legislation designating anyone incarcerated in federal or state

correctional facilities ineligible to receive Pell Grants in 1994
was the “death knell of higher education for prisoners,” says
David Fathi, director of the ACLU’s National Prison Project.
With responsibility for correctional education transferred to
states now mired in budgetary crises, prisoners’ ability to selfeducate becomes all the more essential. But in Texas, book
denials continue to increase as inmate populations level off,
and in states across the country, censorship in prisons and jails
has outpaced growth.
In June 2012, a judge for the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
found that TDCJ’s censorship policies did not violate PLN’s
First Amendment rights to distribute books critical of the
prison system to Texas inmates. While Women Behind Bars
was eventually taken off the banned books list in the course of
the lawsuit, 12,000 titles remain. While acknowledging the
disparity between TDCJ’s policy and practice, Judge Edith
Brown Clement showed deference to prison administrators,
contending that the role of the federal courts is not to “sit as
permanent appeals councils reviewing every individual
censorship decision made by state corrections institutions.”
But according to Wright, because “the legislative and
executive branches are paralyzed when it comes to criminal
justice issues, we’re left with piecemeal litigation as our only
mode to address this, subject to the whims and mercy of the
court.” He adds, “There’s not going to be any meaningful
challenge of the books that have been censored.”
While PLN has achieved major victories—the magazine has
obtained consent decrees in nine states compelling prisons to
deliver to subscribers—the decentralized structure of our penal
system means the campaign is never-ending. In Michigan,
Georgia, and Arizona county jails, PLN is currently
challenging “postcard policies,” a draconian new trend that
limits incoming and outgoing mail to what can fit on a
postcard. Not only are postcards more expensive than letters
sent in envelopes, but they stifle correspondence between
incarcerated people and their families and communities by
airing in plain sight content that might be medical, financial,
or personal. Such restrictions strain social ties that have
proven pivotal in successful reentry. According to PLN
managing editor Alex Friedmann, postcard policies are “just
another way for facilities to reduce communication, and thus
criticism.” Because jails—where those pending trial or serving
shorter sentences are usually held—are local operations
outside the scope of the state system, they tend to display the
most egregious cases of censorship (with the ACLU, PLN
recently won a case against a South Carolina jail that outlawed
all reading material outside of the Bible). Without centralized
policy to dispute, PLN must litigate on a case-by-case basis.
PLN is also currently up against the Florida Department of
Corrections (FDOC), which censors the magazine on the basis
of its advertising content—PLN carries ads for pen-pal
programs and discount telephone services that the FDOC does
not allow. Claiming a nexus between censoring PLN and
preventing services that the magazine advertises for but does
not actually provide, the FDOC has asserted a threat to prison
security. “They’re completely relieved of any evidentiary
burden,” Wright notes. “You say this is going to happen, but

where’s the evidence?”
As with book banning in Texas, Friedmann contends it’s a
pretext: “They don’t like our content regarding misconduct
and corruption by prison officials.” He points out that ads are
incidental to the content of the magazine itself, and that other
publications advertise prohibited material without any
problem, like TIME, which runs ads for cigarettes. It’s true
that PLN’s coverage of the FDOC has been uncompromising.
In 1999, the magazine reported on Frank Valdez, an outspoken
inmate who allegedly contacted the media about abuses at
Florida State Prison (FSP) under then warden James Crosby.
Valdez was found stomped to death inside his cell. The guards
charged in Valdez’s death were bafflingly acquitted by a jury
in a North Florida town where FSP was a leading employer,
despite evidence of their boot prints on his back. PLN covered
Florida’s negligent treatment of mentally ill prisoners, and
published a series tracking a corruption scandal that erupted in
2006, involving guards dealing steroids, sexual assault, and
the sentencing of Crosby—who by that point had been
promoted to FDOC Secretary—to eight years for accepting
bribes. “These are things PLN has done a pretty good job of
reporting on over the years,” Wright explains. “None of which
have ingratiated us to prison officials.” A trial is scheduled for
August.
Wright sees the censorship plaguing prisons not as an isolated
trend, but rather as representative of the increasing
encroachment of the American police state. He lists changes
he’s observed on the outside since his reentry in 2003: the
aggressive prosecution of whistleblowers, retaliatory arrests
for videotaping police officers, even increases in Google
takedown requests issued by government agencies. “I think
this is part of a greater silencing,” he explains, “but with
prisoners it’s a bit more pronounced because they’re a more
vulnerable population.” Indeed, it’s difficult to determine what
legitimate penological objectives are advanced by restricting
prisoners—95 percent of whom will eventually be released
into their communities—from accessing literature, staying
apprised of their rights, communicating with their families,
and resisting alienation through journals like PLN.
Source: http://theamericanreader.com/battling-censorship-behind-bars/

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Policy change lets inmates receive magazines,
books in mail
By Janine Anderson
Kenosha News, Wisconsin
June 26, 2014

Magazines, books and other publications now can be sent
directly to inmates in Kenosha County’s detention facilities
after the county agreed to change its policy following a federal
lawsuit.
Prison Legal News sued the county last summer, claiming the
county’s policy prohibiting delivery of periodicals, magazines,
books and other publications violated rights granted by the
First Amendment. Prison Legal News publishes and

distributes a journal of corrections news and analysis, as well
as books about the criminal justice system.
The company mailed copies of its publication and some softcover books to 29 specific prisoners in the Kenosha County
Jail, and they were rejected and returned with stamps reading
“refused” and “return to sender,” along with a white sticker
with a checked box indicating “no books/magazines,”
according to the complaint filed in federal district court.
The county and Prison Legal News reached a settlement, part
of which required the Sheriff’s Department to change its
policy on publications that can be sent to inmates. According
to the settlement, the county continues to “dispute and deny
liability” but agreed to settle to “avoid the expense, delay,
uncertainty, and burden of litigation.”
The county’s attorney, Ryan Braithwaite, said the new policy
allowing publications to be sent to inmates has been in place
since the end of January. The old policy was put in place in
1985, he said.
“There weren’t really any issues, so nothing was brought to
(the county’s) attention until the lawsuit was brought,” he said.
“We immediately looked at it, realized it was out of date and
updated it to allow magazines and books with some
restrictions on content.”
Braithwaite said nobody knew why the old policy was put in
place, but he said there was “a concern about staples that was
mentioned.” The new policy includes content restrictions for
things like information that would pose a threat to the safety or
welfare of the institution or if there was sexual or lewd
content.
Prison Legal News attorney Jon Loevy commended the county
“for fixing an unconstitutional policy and bringing it into
compliance.”
“To their credit, rather than spending taxpayer money fighting
a losing battle, they decided to make the policy compliant with
the First Amendment,” he said. “Prisoners have rights, too.
Nobody wants to live in a society where even incarcerated
people are censored or denied access to materials about what’s
going on in the world.”
That publication is now being delivered to inmates, Loevy
said.
Another part of the settlement was monetary. The county
agreed to pay $116,500 to Prison Legal News.
Braithwaite called that “the ransom that Prison Legal News
demanded.” Federal law allows plaintiffs to recover attorney’s
fees, and Loevy said that’s what the payment covered.
Terms of the settlement
The county will pay Prison Legal News $116,500. Prison
Legal News’ journal and its other books and publications will
be delivered to inmates and detainees at the jail. The county
will no longer have any “blanket bans” on books, magazines,
newspapers or other publications sent to inmates or detainees.
If publications, correspondence or documents are rejected,
senders and recipients shall receive written notice and
information about how to appeal the decision. The county

must also post the new policy in the jail and detention facility,
include it in the inmate handbook and post it online.
However, the policy is not yet available on the jail website.
Source:http://www.kenoshanews.com/news/policy_change_lets_inmates_recei
ve_magazines_books_in_mail_477697783.html

In a 2012 lawsuit, inmates represented by the Ventura County
Public Defender’s Office alleged the postcards-only policy
limited their ability to communicate with clergy, doctors,
relatives and friends. The policy, however, was upheld by a
Ventura County Superior Court judge.
Source: http://www.vcstar.com/news/federal-court-rules-postcard-onlypolicy-in-is

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Federal court rules postcard-only policy in
Ventura County jails is unconstitutional

Texas court rules CCA is a “governmental body”
in PLN public records suit

By Cindy Von Quednow
Ventura County Star, California
May 30, 2014

A U.S. District Court has ruled that the Ventura County
Sheriff’s Office policy that allows jail inmates to receive only
postcards is unconstitutional.
The policy prevents inmates from receiving mail such as
Prison Legal News, which responded by suing Sheriff Geoff
Dean, Assistant Sheriff Gary Pentis and commanders in
charge of the county’s two jails.

Private Prison Must Provide Information
Courthouse News Service
March 20, 2014

AUSTIN, Texas (CN) - A state judge ruled Wednesday that
the nation’s largest private prison company, the Corrections
Corporation of America, is a “governmental body” for
purposes of the Texas Public Information Act, “and subject to
[the] Act’s obligations to disclose public information.”

“We are very pleased the judge is upholding the constitution,”
Paul Wright, editor of Prison Legal News, said in a statement.

Prison Legal News sued CCA in Travis County Court in May
2013, seeking records on the Dawson State Jail in Dallas,
which has closed. Prison Legal News, which publishes a
monthly magazine, is a project of the nonprofit Human Rights
Defense Center.

Ernest Galvan, an attorney representing the publication, had
previously told The Star that the policy violates First
Amendment rights of inmates and their loved ones outside of
jail partly because they cannot receive mail that could be
beneficial to their future.

Prison Legal News said in a statement after the Wednesday
ruling that the information it sought “would have
unquestionably been made public had the jail been operated by
a government agency.”

Prison Legal News, a project of the Florida-based Human
Rights Defense Center, focuses on inmate rights, court rulings
and news regarding correctional facilities across the country.
The publication — sent to inmates, attorneys and others
nationwide — has successfully challenged similar jail policies
in South Carolina, Georgia and Texas, officials said. No other
jail in California apparently has such a policy.
A motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the postcardonly practice was granted Thursday. The Sheriff’s Office now
has 21 days to suspend the policy for incoming mail and has
30 days to file an appeal. It also must give senders of rejected
mail a written notice and opportunity to appeal the rejection.
The postcard-only policy was adopted in October 2010 to
prevent drugs, weapons and large amounts of cash from being
smuggled into jail in envelopes, officials say.
Postcards sent to the two jails must be no larger than 6 by 11
inches. Magazines, newspapers, books, packages and booklets
are allowed only if sent directly from the publisher or an
authorized retail distributor, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
Everything sent to the jail is subject to inspection and will be
returned to the sender if it does not meet the requirements.
Officials originally prevented inmates from sending outgoing
mail in envelopes as well but later dropped that restriction.

Private prisons in general, and CCA in particular, have come
under fire from human rights workers as a way for states to
dodge oversight and accountability. The Nashville-based
prison company is paid per body per day, with the money
coming from the governmental bodies that imprison the
people. Yet the company and the states generally claim that
how the public money is spent is not the public’s business.
“This is one of the many failings of private prisons,” Prison
Legal News managing editor Alex Friedmann said in the
statement. “By contracting with private companies,
corrections officials interfere with the public’s right to know
what is happening in prisons and jails, even though the
contracts are funded with taxpayer money. This lack of
transparency contributes to abuses and misconduct by forprofit companies like CCA, which prefer secrecy over public
accountability.”
CCA runs nine prisons in Texas, four of them for state
prisoners. The company is also very much into running
immigration prisons.
“The conditions of Texas prisons have been the focus of
intense public scrutiny for nearly 40 years,” Brian McGiverin,
an attorney with the Texas Civil Rights Project, said in the
statement. “Today’s ruling is a victory for transparency and
responsible government. Texans have a right to know what

their government is doing, even when a private company is
hired to do it.”
Prison Legal News argued in its lawsuit: ““Incarceration is
inherently a power of government. By using public money to
perform a public function, CCA is a governmental body” for
purposes of the Texas Public Information Act.
Judge Charles Ramsay agreed, in a 1-page order granting
summary judgment.
Source: http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/03/20/66349.htm

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Corrections to pay $740,000 in inmate’s death
By Brian M. Rosenthal
Seattle Times
April 2, 2014

The state Department of Corrections has agreed to pay
$740,000 to the family of an inmate who died in custody after
suffering from a painful and treatable illness.
Ricardo Mejia, 26, died in January 2011 after developing
flesh-eating bacteria so severe that it eventually forced doctors
to remove his rectum. But before it came to that, he had
complained for weeks about pain and a rash, state records
show.
The former inmate’s family claimed in a lawsuit that the staff
at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla
misdiagnosed the problem.
“While in state custody, Ricardo Mejia’s medical providers
ignored obvious signs of infection and serious illness and he
literally rotted to death under their care through negligence
and deliberate indifference,” according to the lawsuit.
One of those providers, physician assistant Kenneth Moore,
was charged with unprofessional conduct by a Department of
Health commission, but the charge was dismissed. He is still
working at the prison, according to the state.
The settlement did not include an admission of wrongdoing. A
state Department of Health investigation into the death earlier
found “deficiencies” in Mejia’s care.
The death caused the Department of Corrections (DOC) to
order several changes at the prison, including more clearly
identifying a doctor for each inmate, ensuring each admission
to the medical unit is discussed with supervisors, establishing
regular weekday medical-staff meetings and educating all staff
about flesh-eating bacteria, spokeswoman Norah West said.
“Anytime an incident like this occurs, we take it very
seriously,” West said.
Janelle Guthrie, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney
General’s Office, said the office could not say how the amount
of the settlement compared with others involving DOC.

Paul Wright, executive director of the Human Rights Defense
Center, which represented the family in the lawsuit, said this
was one of the state’s biggest-ever settlements related to the
medical treatment of an inmate.
More important, he said the case is notable because it shows
that officials have not done enough to combat the “dismal
state of medical care in Washington state prisons.”
Wright, a former inmate himself who served 17 years for
murder, said “The news is that, after all the litigation, all the
news coverage, very little has changed.”
He pointed in particular to the case of Charlie Manning, a
Mason County man who lost his penis and a testicle to flesheating bacteria while at Stafford Creek Corrections Center in
Aberdeen, serving a 13-month sentence for threatening his
neighbor and stealing the man’s pistol in a drunken argument.
Manning received $300,000 in a 2008 settlement.
“Whatever they did (after the Manning settlement), if they did
anything,” Wright said, “obviously didn’t help Ricardo
Mejia.”
West, the spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections,
said she didn’t know if anything was changed after the
Manning case.
Mejia, who was in prison on a murder, had a history of rectal
bleeding and was treated for a rash and other problems starting
in the fall of 2010, according to a Department of Health
investigation.
He saw prison-medical staff 14 times between Nov. 29, 2010,
and Jan. 10, 2011, but continued to report being in pain.
On Jan. 11, he said he had a “medical emergency” and was
eventually admitted to the prison’s medical unit.
On the morning of Jan. 15, Moore, the physician assistant,
“noted that he anticipated (Mejia) would improve and return to
inmate housing within a few days,” according to the
investigation.
Mejia was taken to a nearby hospital that afternoon and
airlifted that evening to Sacred Heart Medical Center in
Spokane, where he had surgery. He died the next day.
Mejia’s children will benefit from the settlement.
Although the settlement was finalized in December, family
members waited to publicize it until receiving the money
because they were afraid the state would not follow through
with the agreement, Wright said.
Source:http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2023288048_docsettlementxml.
html

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Columbia County must pay $802,000 in legal
costs over unconstitutional inmate-mail policy,
judge says
By Helen Jung
The Oregonian
March 25, 2014

[On March 26 the article was updated with a comment from an
attorney representing Columbia County and additional details.]

A federal judge has ordered Columbia County to pay more
than $800,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs to Prison Legal
News, after the publication prevailed in its lawsuit challenging
the constitutionality of the county jail’s inmate mail policies.
U.S. District Judge Michael Simon largely turned aside the
county’s arguments to deny or slash the requested fees and
costs to Prison Legal News, a monthly magazine published by
the Human Rights Defense Center, which advocates for
prisoners’ rights. He said their attorneys’ fees were reasonable
and in line with the market rate, although the award is 10
percent lower than what the plaintiffs sought.
The order, issued Monday, comes almost a year after Simon
sided with Prison Legal News in finding that the Columbia
County jail’s policy of allowing only postcards to be delivered
to inmates violated the 1st Amendment. He permanently
blocked the jail from implementing the postcard-only policy,
which he said, lacked a “common-sense connection” with its
supposed goal of enhancing security. The jail already had been
opening and inspecting mail and officials conceded there was
not a known problem of people sending contraband through
letters.
Instead, the policy blocked inmates from receiving items such
as children’s report cards, medical records, bills and news
articles, Simon noted in his findings of fact.
Simon also declared the jail’s practice of not delivering
magazines, including the monthly Prison Legal News,
similarly violated the 1st Amendment. He also found that the
jail’s failure to notify inmates that their mail has been rejected
nor provide a way to appeal such rejections, violated their 14th
Amendment right to due process.

cover all $38,373.01 in litigation costs.
The postcard-only policy that Simon declared unconstitutional
has been adopted by many jails across the country. Prison
Legal News has sued jails in other states over the policy,
reportedly adopted first by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe
Arpaio in Arizona.
Columbia County Sheriff Jeff Dickerson declined to comment.
But Steve Kraemer, an attorney representing the county, said
in an email “we were surprised and disappointed in the
amount of attorney fees awarded, especially considering the
Sheriff only enacted the postcard policy after receiving
reliable and accurate information that similar policies had
been held constitutional in other states,” he said. He added that
the county had admitted many of the constitutional violations
alleged by the plaintiff, “made immediate changes to its
procedures,” and had offered Prison Legal News more than
what they ultimately paid to compensate the publication for its
damages. Prison Legal News rejected the offer.
But the defendants’ offer for $21,000 did not include an
agreement to a judgment declaring the mail policies
unconstitutional. Nor were the defendants willing to accept a
permanent injunction blocking Dickerson -- or anyone else
elected to the sheriff position -- from reinstating the postcardonly policy, the publication argued in its filings.
The county’s insurance carrier has not yet decided whether to
appeal the attorney fee award, Kraemer said.
Getting paid for your work is certainly welcome, said Jesse
Wing, one of the attorneys who represented Prison Legal
News. But the significance of the case comes from Simon’s
declaration of the unconstitutionality of the postcard-only
practice.
“There’s literally thousands and thousands of people who
benefit from a ruling like this,” he said. “From our
perspective, it was a really poor choice for Columbia County
to take this stand.”
Source:http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2014/03/columbia_coun
ty_must_pay_80200.html#incart_river_default

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After Simon’s decision, the county agreed to pay $15,000 to
Prison Legal News for damages it sustained in not being able
to deliver its publication. Prison Legal News then also sought
$848,670.50 for attorneys’ fees.

Inmate mail censorship case settled

Simon opted to award 90 percent of that sum -- $763,803.45 -in attorney fees to the plaintiff’s legal team of five lawyers and
four paralegals. The attorneys’ rates ranged from $210 for an
attorney with two years of experience to $400 an hour for two
lawyers with decades of experience. The paralegals’ rates
ranged from $90 an hour to $175 an hour for an
investigator/senior paralegal.

A lawsuit, alleging censorship of inmate mail by the Upshur
County Jail, has been settled in the plaintiff’s favor.

He shaved off 10 percent over concerns regarding the number
of hours spent on a few tasks. He also ordered the county to

By Mac Overton
The Gilmer Mirror, Upshur County, Texas
March 2014

Prison Legal News settled the lawsuit for $175,000.
Named as defendants in the suit, which was filed in October,
2012, were the county, Sheriff Anthony Betterton and
Sheriff’s Lt. Jill McCauley.

The suit stated that Upshur County Jail’s inmate handbook
contained “no written criteria explaining when a publication
will be rejected,” and the jail’s mail policy “did not provide a
sender any notice or explanation when a book is censored,”
stated a story in the February, 2014, edition of Prison Legal
News (PLN), reporting the settlement.
The story stated that PLN had mailed copies of its monthly
magazine to prisoners at the Upshur County Jail, as well as
letters, renewal notices, brochures and copies of a book,
Protecting Your Health and Safety.
The article said that the jail rejected about 90 of PLN’s
publications over a one-year period, stamping them “No
Newspaper,” “Unauthorized Mail,” “Not Approved,” or
“Refused.”
The article said “the jail also rejected legal mail sent to
prisoners by PLN’s attorney. No notice was provided
regarding this censorship, and PLN was not afforded an
opportunity to appeal the rejection of its publications.
Lance Weber, general counsel for the Human Rights Defense
Center (HRDC), the nonprofit parent of PLN was quoted in
the article as saying “The purpose of jail is to hold the
criminally accused for trial, not to punish them. Depriving
pretrial detainees too poor to afford bail, who are presumed
innocent—of access to information that could assist them in
enforcing their rights is inexcusable.”
The article reported that on Sept. 30, 2013, a federal district
court granted PLN’s motion for a preliminary injunction,
finding that the withholding of at least some of the
correspondence with prisoners “deprived the plaintiff, PLN, of
its First Amendment rights without due process of law.”
While the jail had adopted a new mail policy before the
granting of the preliminary injunction, and the court said that
was a “clear improvement,” but that it “still falls short of
establishing the minimum procedural safeguards
constitutionally required to protect PLN’s First and Fourteenth
Amendment rights without due process of law.”
The court also held that PLN was likely to prevail on the
merits, and “Upshur County subsequently agreed to settle.”
The consent decree settling the case provides that the county
will “implement a new Correspondence and Incoming
Publication Plan at the jail, to include “disseminating a copy
of the New Policy to all employees of the Upshur County Jail
and confirming that each recipient has read the same,
disseminating the New Policy to members of the general
public by posting it conspicuously on a website maintained by
or on behalf of the Upshur County Sheriff’s Office, and
disseminating a copy of the New Policy to inmates by
including it in the inmate handbook and by posting a copy in
common areas for at least 14 days.”
The new jail policy provides that prisoners can receive
periodicals, books, newspapers, brochures, magazines and

other correspondence— “subject to specified security
concerns.” It also provides that “both prisoners and those who
send them mail will receive notification of any censorship by
jail staff, and will have the opportunity to appeal same.”
The county also agreed to pay $175,000 in damages, costs and
attorneys’ fees.
PLN editor Paul Wright was quoted in the article as saying
“We are pleased with the outcome of this case, though it could
have been resolved much earlier, at much lower cost to
Upshur County, had county officials acknowledged that the
previous mail policy in effect at the jail was inadequate.”
Counsel Weber told The Mirror that “they fought us hard to
keep us from being able to reveal that number.”
He said that they told the county’s attorneys that the
settlement was public record, and that they would use it in
their own magazine.
“We’ve already got the funds,” Weber said. “The case is
closed up.”
Upshur County Judge Dean Fowler said the decision to settle
was made by the county’s insurance carrier, the adjusters and
the lawyers, not the county.
“Once the insurance company decides to settle, the insured
really doesn’t have a choice,” the judge
Source: http://www.gilmermirror.com/view/full_story/24707969/articleInmate-mail-censorship-case-settled?instance=home_news_lead_story

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Franklin County Sheriff’s Office Sued: Witness
Inside Jail Explains Conditions
By Don Granese
NBC Right Now, Pasco, Washington
August 6, 2014

The Franklin County Sheriff’s office faces a class action
lawsuit that alleges inmates are mistreated and confined in
ways that are unconstitutional.
Columbia Legal Services, a group that works to make sure
Washington jails are following their legal obligations, believes
the Franklin County Jail has the worst conditions in the state.
NBC Right Now was able to take a look at some of the claims
from the lawsuit and get answers as to why this group believes
some of the protocol followed in the jail could be unlawful.
What we found is that Sheriff Richard Lathim isn’t denying
some of the claims because he believes these actions to be the
best way to keep inmates safe.
“Some of it’s just totally not true. What little bit is true is
taken out of context or misrepresented and exaggerated,”
explained Lathim.

Chaining inmates for days, pepper spraying without reason
and denying any and all visitation are just some of those
claims. The claims and the suit stems from pre-trial inmates in
the jail and at this time they are simply just claims.
“We’ve had a couple inmates that have done thousands of
dollars worth of damage and continue to do so even just a
couple days ago.”
Lathim explains that many of these conditions including
broken toilets and no lights in cells are because inmates are
tearing up their own cells. They’re even breaking windows
and causing damage to the fairly new facility that opened up at
the end of February.
“There were two prisoners that were handcuffed to the chain
link fence that surrounds the guard station,” said Carrie
Wilkinson.
It might sound like an alarming sight to see for someone like
Wilkinson who was on her first visit ever interview in a
Washington jail. The Senior Paralegal at the Human Rights
Defense Center in Seattle visited to conduct interviews with
inmates just last week. Columbia Legal Services pointed to
her as a good witness for NBC Right Now to speak with.
“They were kind of just sitting out on a floor in the hallway
chained to a fence.”
As the sheriff explained, that fence is a temporary holding area
where inmates are placed until they are booked into the jail. A
new booking center is under construction right now and will
be able to hold those prisoners once it is complete. The lawsuit
claims the new center isn’t enough and to place inmates where
visitors can see them is a form of public humiliation.
“Everything is done to protect inmates, from themselves, from
other inmates and also to protect the staff,” said Lathim.
The new booking area will also have cameras in each cell to
monitor those destructive inmates and those who could be
harmful to themselves. Whether or not the current conditions
are constitutional is set to likely be hashed out in court. In the
meantime those inmates suing the county sheriff’s office will
still serve their time.
“We’re stuck with them and they’re stuck with us.”
Lathim says the construction of that new booking area is
scheduled to be complete in about one month. It will have
video conferencing setup for inmates with to easily meet with
their visitors. It will also have new individual holding cells for
inmates that need to be separated and watched closely.
Source: http://www.nbcrightnow.com/story/26217750/franklin-countysheriffs-office-sued-witness-inside-jail-explains-conditions

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Temple completes probe of profs’ prison study
By Martha Woodall
Philadelphia Inquirer
July 16, 2014

Temple University has completed its review of an ethics
complaint on a study conducted by two professors that
described economic savings from private prisons - without
disclosing that they had received funding from the prison
industry. The university, however, will not disclose the
findings or say whether any action was taken against the
authors.
“It’s a personnel matter,” Brandon Lausch, a Temple
spokesman, said Wednesday. “I can’t go into details.”
He said the examination was concluded July 2.
“They are fairly close-mouthed about their investigation,” said
Alex Friedmann, managing editor of the Prison Legal News
and associate director of the Human Rights Defense Center,
who filed the ethics complaint with Temple in June 2013.
He alleged that when economics professors Simon Hakim and
Erwin Blackstone released a working paper in April 2013,
they did not properly disclose that they had received financial
support from private prison operators, including the Nashvillebased Corrections Corp. of America, the nation’s largest
private corrections company.
In op-ed newspaper articles, the professors wrote that their
research had found that privately run prisons worked as well
as or better than government-run institutions and could
provide long-term savings to taxpayers of 12 percent to 58
percent.
Neither of the longtime Temple faculty members could be
reached for comment Wednesday.
Friedmann said he received a letter this month from Michele
Masucci, Temple’s interim senior vice provost for research,
informing him that she had completed her review of his
complaint. She said the university would “address its
conclusions, including any action” to Hakim and Blackstone
individually.
Masucci told Friedmann that the professors’ working paper
had been withdrawn and was no longer widely available, and
that the research had received no university grant money.
Last month, Hakim and Blackstone told an Inquirer reporter
that they had been conducting similar research for decades and
always disclose funding sources when they publish their final
report.
Lausch, the Temple spokesman, said the final version of their
report, “Prison Break, A New Approach to Public Cost and
Safety,” was published last month by the nonprofit
Independent Institute in Oakland, Calif.
The report says the study was funded in part by the private
corrections industry.
ColorOfChange, an online civil rights organization based in
Oakland, which recently mounted a campaign in support of

Friedmann’s ethics complaint, said Wednesday that nearly
25,000 of its members had sent e-mails to Temple.

Source:http://www.philly.com/philly/education/20140717_Temple_completes_
probe_of_profs__controversial_prison_study.html

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Editorial: FCC right to scrutinize exorbitant
prison phone fees
By Seattle Times Editorial Board

The FCC is finally putting the outrageous costs for telephone
calls from prison under the regulatory spotlight.
One out of 28 children in the U.S. has a parent in prison or
jail, a rate so astonishing, and growing, that Sesame Street felt
the need to add a fuzzy little blue-haired character, Alex, to
talk about his locked-up dad.
Keeping the Alexes of the nation — 2.7 million children —
connected with an incarcerated parent is vital. Maintaining
family bonds between inmates and their kin has been shown to
be one of the best ways of reducing recidivism. That’s why
smart state and local prison systems — including those in
Washington — have strong family-focused policies.
Yet, prisons and jails across the country — including in King
County and around Washington — artificially raise the cost of
telephone calls from behind bars. Contracts between detention
facilities and telecom providers commonly include a
“commission” paid back to the prison or jail.
Washington’s contract with prison phone provider Global Tel
Link required a 51 percent commission on gross revenue,
guaranteeing the Department of Corrections at least $4 million
a year. King County’s jail has a 58 percent commission.
These are kickbacks, most commonly paid by inmates’
families for doing the very thing that research suggests will
lower crime: staying in touch.
In a little-noticed announcement last week, the Federal
Communications Commission took aim at the sky-high rates
of prison phone calls. It soon will begin taking public
comments on the cost of in-state calls, as part of a
comprehensive reform proposal. A cap on commissions is
among the proposals.
Prison administrators defend commissions as a revenue source
that pays for amenities behind bars such as education, a legal
library or, in the case of King County Jail, staff for the jail
commissary. A quarter of state DOC commissions goes to the
crime victims’ compensation fund.

Regardless of those intentions, inmates’ families should not be
taxed to stay in touch. That is a clear example of public
policies being at cross-purposes: short-term revenue gained at
the expense of long-term recidivism.
This is not a new issue. A petition filed by the grandmother of
an inmate has been before the FCC since 2003. In February,
the regulator moved to cap costs of interstate calls from
prison, and call volume across state lines went up 70 percent
in some facilities.
But since then, “already outrageous costs” for in-state calls
inched up, as prisons and jails jacked up their commission
rates, according to FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.
“In my 16 years as a regulator, this is the clearest, most
egregious case of market failure that I’ve seen,” she said in a
statement.
There is no rationality in costs for calls from jails in
Washington state. A 15 minute collect call from the Stevens
County Jail, in Northeast Washington, costs $18.24, the
highest in the state, according to the nonprofit Human Rights
Defense Center. A similar call from Snohomish County Jail is
$13.39; in King County, it’s $3.50.
The difference is not on quality of service. It is how much
profit localities want to suck from the families of inmates.
Good for the FCC for taking it on.
Editorial board members are editorial page editor Kate Riley, Frank
A. Blethen, Ryan Blethen, Jonathan Martin, Thanh Tan, Blanca
Torres, Robert J. Vickers, William K. Blethen (emeritus) and Robert
C. Blethen (emeritus).
Source:http://seattletimes.com/html/editorials/2024829699_editprisonphones
21xml.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Prison Profiteers, edited by Paul Wright and Tara Herivel, 323 pages.
$24.95. This is the third book in a series of Prison Legal News anthologies that examines the reality of mass imprisonment in America. Prison
Profiteers is unique from other books because it exposes and discusses
who profits and benefits from mass imprisonment, rather
than who is harmed by it and how.
1063
The Habeas Citebook: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel, by Brandon Sample, PLN Publishing, 200 pages. $49.95. This is PLN’s second
published book, written by federal prisoner Brandon Sample, which
covers ineffective assistance of counsel issues in federal
habeas petitions. Includes hundreds of case citations! 1078
Prison Nation: The Warehousing of America’s Poor, edited by Tara
Herivel and Paul Wright, 332 pages. $35.95. PLN’s second anthology
exposes the dark side of the ‘lock-em-up’ political agenda and
legal climate in the U.S.
1041
The Celling of America, An Inside Look at the U.S. Prison Industry,
edited by Daniel Burton Rose, Dan Pens and Paul Wright, 264 pages.
$22.95. PLN’s first anthology presents a detailed “inside”
look at the workings of the American justice system. 1001
Prisoners’ Guerrilla Handbook to Correspondence Programs in the
U.S. and Canada, updated 3rd ed. by Jon Marc Taylor, Ph.D. and edited
by Susan Schwartzkopf, PLN Publishing, 221 pages. $49.95. Written by
Missouri prisoner Jon Marc Taylor, the Guerrilla Handbook contains contact
information and descriptions of high school, vocational, para1071
legal and college courses by mail.

Protecting Your Health and Safety, by Robert E. Toone, Southern
Poverty Law Center, 325 pages. $10.00. This book explains basic rights
that prisoners have in a jail or prison in the U.S. It deals mainly with
rights related to health and safety, such as communicable diseases and
abuse by prison officials; it also explains how to enforce
your rights, including through litigation.
1060
Spanish-English/English-Spanish Dictionary, 2nd ed., Random House.
$15.95. Spanish-English and English-Spanish. 60,000+ entries
from A to Z; includes Western Hemisphere usage.
1034a
Writing to Win: The Legal Writer, by Steven D. Stark, Broadway Books/Random
House, 283 pages. $19.95. Explains the writing of effective complaints, responses, briefs, motions and other legal papers.
1035
Actual Innocence: When Justice Goes Wrong and How to Make it Right,
updated paperback ed., by Barry Scheck, Peter Neufeld and Jim Dwyer; 403 pages.
$17.99. Describes how criminal defendants are wrongly convicted. Explains DNA
testing and how it works to free the innocent. Devastating critique
of police and prosecutorial misconduct.
1030
All Alone in the World: Children of the Incarcerated, by Nell Bernstein,
303 pages. $19.95. Award-winning journalist Nell Bernstein takes an intimate look at the effects incarceration has on imprisoned
parents and their children.
2016
Everyday Letters for Busy People, by Debra Hart May, 287 pages.
$21.99. Hundreds of sample letters that can be adapted for most any purpose, including letters to government agencies and officials.
Has numerous tips for writing effective letters.
1048

The Criminal Law Handbook: Know Your Rights, Survive the System, by
Attorneys Paul Bergman & Sara J. Berman-Barrett, Nolo Press, 608 pages.
$39.99. Explains what happens in a criminal case from being arrested to sentencing, and what your rights are at each stage of the process. Uses an
easy to understand question-and-answer format.
1038

Roget’s Thesaurus, 717 pages. $8.95. Helps you find the right word for
what you want to say. 11,000 words listed alphabetically with over 200,000
synonyms and antonyms. Sample sentences and parts of speech shown for
every main word. Covers all levels of vocabulary and identifies informal and slang words.
1045

Represent Yourself in Court: How to Prepare & Try a Winning Case, by
Attorneys Paul Bergman & Sara J. Berman-Barrett, Nolo Press, 528 pages.
$39.99. Breaks down the civil trial process in easy-to-understand steps so you
can effectively represent yourself in court. The authors explain
what to say in court, how to say it, etc.
1037

Beyond Bars, Rejoining Society After Prison, by Jeffrey Ian Ross, Ph.D.
and Stephen C. Richards, Ph.D., Alpha, 240 pages. $14.95. Beyond Bars is a
practical and comprehensive guide for ex-convicts and their families for
managing successful re-entry into the community, and includes information
about budgets, job searches, family issues, preparing for
release while still incarcerated, and more.
1080

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary, New Edition, 939 pages. $8.95. This
paperback dictionary is a handy reference for the most common English words, with more than 65,000 entries.
2015
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation, by Jane Straus, 110 pages. $19.99. A guide to grammar and punctuation by an educator with experience teaching English to prisoners. 1046
Legal Research: How to Find and Understand the Law, by Stephen Elias
and Susan Levinkind, 568 pages. $49.99. Comprehensive and easy to understand guide on researching the law. Explains case law, statutes
and digests, etc. Includes practice exercises.
1059
Deposition Handbook, by Paul Bergman and Albert Moore, Nolo Press, 352
pages. $34.99. How-to handbook for anyone who conducts a
deposition or is going to be deposed.
1054
Criminal Law in a Nutshell, by Arnold H. Loewy, 5th edition, 387 pages.
$43.95. Provides an overview of criminal law, including punishment, specific crimes, defenses & burden of proof. 1086

Jailhouse Lawyers: Prisoners Defending Prisoners v. the U.S.A., by
Mumia Abu Jamal, City Lights Publishers, 280 pages. $16.95. In Jailhouse
Lawyers, Prison Legal News columnist, award-winning journalist and deathrow prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal presents the stories and reflections of
fellow prisoners-turned-advocates who have learned to use
the court system to represent other prisoners.
1073
With Liberty for Some: 500 Years of Imprisonment in America, by
Scott Christianson, Northeastern University Press, 372 pages. $18.95. The
best overall history of the U.S. prison system from 1492 through the 20th
century. A must-read for understanding how little things
have changed in U.S. prisons over hundreds of years. 1026
Complete GED Preparation, by Steck-Vaughn, 922 pages. $24.99. This
useful handbook contains over 2,000 GED-style questions to thoroughly
prepare students for taking the GED test. It offers complete coverage of
the revised GED test with new testing information, instructions and a practice test.
1099

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Hepatitis and Liver Disease: What You Need to Know, by Melissa Palmer,
MD, 457 pages. $19.99. Describes symptoms & treatments of hepatitis B & C and
other liver diseases. Includes medications to avoid, what diet to follow
and exercises to perform, plus a bibliography.
1031

Our Bodies, Ourselves, by The Boston Women’s Health Book Collective,
944 pages. $26.00. This book about women’s health and sexuality has been
called “America’s best-selling book on all aspects of women’s
health,” and is a great resource for women of all ages. 1082

Arrested: What to Do When Your Loved One’s in Jail, by Wes
Denham, 240 pages. $16.95. Whether a defendant is charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct or first-degree murder, this is an indispensable
guide for those who want to support family members, partners
or
friends
facing
criminal
charges.
1084

Arrest-Proof Yourself, by Dale Carson and Wes Denham, 288 pages.
$14.95. This essential “how not to” guide written by an ex-cop explains
how to act and what to say when confronted by the police to minimize the
chances of being arrested and avoid additional charges. Includes information on basic tricks that police use to get people to incriminate themselves.
1083

Prisoners’ Self-Help Litigation Manual, updated 4th ed. (2010), by John
Boston and Daniel Manville, Oxford Univ. Press, 960 pages. $39.95. The
premiere, must-have “Bible” of prison litigation for current
and aspiring jail-house lawyers. If you plan to litigate a prison
or jail civil suit, this book is a must-have. Highly recommended!
1077

Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary, by Gerald N. Hill and Kathleen
T. Hill, 496 pages. $29.99. Find terms you can use to understand and access
the law. Contains 3,800 easy-to-read definitions for common
(and not so common) legal terms.
3001

How to Win Your Personal Injury Claim, by Atty. Joseph Matthews, 7th
edition, NOLO Press, 304 pages. $34.99. While not specifically for prison-related personal injury cases, this book provides comprehensive information on how to handle personal
injury and property damage claims arising from accidents.
1075
Sue the Doctor and Win! Victim’s Guide to Secrets of
Malpractice Lawsuits, by Lewis Laska, 336 pages. $39.95.
Written for victims of medical malpractice/neglect, to prepare for litigation. Note that this book addresses medical malpractice claims
and issues in general, not specifically related to prisoners.
1079
Advanced Criminal Procedure in a Nutshell, by Mark E.

Criminal Procedure: Constitutional Limitations, by Jerold H. Israel and
Wayne R. LaFave, 7th edition, 603 pages. $43.95. Intended for use by law
students, this is a succinct analysis of constitutional standards
of major significance in the area of criminal procedure. 1085
Win Your Lawsuit: Sue in CA Superior Court without a Lawyer, by
Judge Roderic Duncan, 445 pages (4th edition 2010). $39.99. This plainEnglish guide shows you how to prepare a complaint, file and serve papers,
participate in settlement negotiations, present a case and much more. The
4th edition has been revised to reflect recent court procedures and includes updated forms.
2014

Coming Soon! Disciplinary Self-Help Litigation Manual, by Daniel

Manville. By the co-author of the Prisoners’ Self-Help Litigation Manual, this
book provides detailed information about prisoners’ rights in disciplinary
hearings and how to enforce those rights in court. Published by Prison
Legal News Publishing, this title should be available by Nov. 15, 2014.

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Disciplinary Self-Help Litigation Manual, Second Edition
Dan Manville

$49.95

ISBN: 978-0-9819385-2-3 • Paperback, 368 pages
The Disciplinary Self-Help Litigation Manual, Second Edition, by Dan Manville, is the third in a series of books by Prison
Legal News Publishing. It is designed to inform prisoners of their rights when faced with the consequences of a
disciplinary hearing. This authoritative and comprehensive work educates prisoners about their rights throughout
this process and helps guide them at all stages, from administrative hearing through litigation. The Manual is an
invaluable how-to guide that offers step-by-step information for both state and federal prisoners, and includes a
50-state analysis of relevant case law and an extensive case law citation index.

The Habeas Citebook: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
Brandon Sample

$49.95

ISBN: 978-0-9819385-1-6 • Paperback, 224 pages
The Habeas Citebook: Ineffective Assistance of Counsel is the first in a series of books by Prison Legal News Publishing
designed to help pro-se prisoner litigants identify and raise viable claims for potential habeas corpus relief. This
book is an invaluable resource that identifies hundreds of cases where the federal courts have granted habeas relief
to prisoners whose attorneys provided ineffective assistance of counsel.

Prisoners’ Guerrilla Handbook to Correspondence Programs
in the United States and Canada, 3rd Edition
Jon Marc Taylor

$49.95
Special sale price:

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ISBN: 978-0-9819385-0-9 • Paperback, 224 pages
Author Jon Marc Taylor’s third edition of the Prisoners’ Guerrilla Handbook to Correspondence Programs in the United
States and Canada is the latest version of this unique and highly successful guidebook for the prisoner-student. This
invaluable tool and how-to manual provides the reader with step-by-step instructions to find the appropriate education program for correspondence high school, vocational, paralegal, undergraduate and graduate courses offered
in the U.S. and Canada. This is the second book published by Prison Legal News Publishing.

Prisoners’ Self-Help Litigation Manual, 4th Edition
John Boston & Dan Manville

$45.95

ISBN: 978-0-1953744-0-7 • Paperback, 960 pages
The Prisoners’ Self-Help Litigation Manual, in its much-anticipated fourth edition, is an indispensable guide for prisoner litigants and prisoner advocates seeking to understand the rights guaranteed to prisoners by law and how to
protect those rights. Clear, comprehensive, practical advice provides prisoners with everything they need to know
about conditions of confinement, civil liberties in prison, procedural due process, the legal system, how to actually
litigate, conducting effective legal research and writing legal documents. It is a roadmap on how to win lawsuits.

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