On October 4, 2013, an inmate at the Cook County Jail filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. The inmate sued under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against the Sheriff of Cook County and the Cook County Department of Corrections. The inmate sought injunctive and monetary relief for violations of his First Amendment rights. The inmate alleged that the jail had prevented him from receiving a newspaper based on a formal written policy prohibiting newspapers. The Cook County Department of Correction's General Order 9.7.1 lists all "newspapers" as a form of "institutional contraband." A friend had sent him the newspaper, and the jail returned it to the friend without notifying the inmate.

The inmate alleged that the Cook County Department of Correction's policy of banning inmates from obtaining newspapers was overbroad, and violated his First Amendment rights. The inmate alleged that this policy unreasonably and irrationally censored and restricted his ability to read a large and important body of First-Amendment protected speech.

The defendants filed a motion to dismiss. On March 3, 2013, Judge Kennelly denied the motion to dismiss.

Then, both parties moved for summary judgment. In an opinion, the court partly granted and partly denied both motions. On July 6, 2015, the court ruled that the inmate's request for injunctive relief was moot. Although the inmate filed suit while he was still incarcerated at the jail, and he had Article III standing to seek injunctive relief at that time, because he was released shortly thereafter, there was no evidence that he would suffer from the jail's newpaper policy in the future. The court held that the jail's ban on newspapers violated the First Amendment. The court awarded the inmate $1.00 in nominal damages. Outside of court, the parties settled the amount of attorneys fees, and that amount is not disclosed. With the resolution of the attorneys fees, the case was closed.






Rachel June-Graber - 11/13/2015


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