On September 2, 2009, the publisher of the Prison Legal News, a monthly magazine distributed to prisons and jails across the counrty, filed a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 and state law in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, Phoenix Division. The plaintiff, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, asked for declaratory, injunctive relief, and actual damages, claiming that the plaintiff's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights had been violated. Specifically, the plaintiff claimed that the refusal to distribute its publication to prisoners in defendant's facility violated their free speech, due process, and equal protection rights.

From December 2007 to February 2009, the Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), operator of the Saguaro Prison in Arizona, censored and with-held from prisoners of that facility copies of the Prison Legal News.

On June 8, 2010, the Court (Judge Roslyn O. Silver) entered an Order of Dismissal because the parties had settled the case. The Settlement Agreement provided that the plaintiff would be added as an authorized retailer, and its publication would be permitted in the facility. It furthermore provided that CCA would provide notice to the plaintiff if outgoing communications were being prevented. CCA also agreed to pay the plaintiffs a lump sum of $70,000, to cover actual damages and attorney's fees.

The agreement terminated on December 5, 2011 without incident.

Blase Kearney - 05/20/2012


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