On March 28, 2018, Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC), a non-profit organization dedicated to providing prison inmates access to information about their civil and legal rights, filed a complaint against the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail Authority in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia. They brought the claim under 42 USC §1983. The complaint alleged that the Jail Authority’s mail policy had violated HRDC’s First Amendment right to free speech and Fourteenth Amendment right to due process. HRDC, represented by its own counsel and by private litigators, sought injunctive relief, both compensatory and punitive monetary damages, and attorney fees.

Specifically, HRDC claimed the defendants were censoring and refusing to deliver educational material HRDC was sending to inmates. Furthermore, HRDC claimed the defendants were enacting these policies without consistently notifying HRDC of their decision when they blocked information and without offering any way to appeal decisions to block material from inmates.

HRDC moved for a preliminary injunction on March 29, 2018. Judge James P. Jones granted the preliminary injunction the following week, preventing the defendant from continuing to censor and block inmates’ access to HRDC’s educational materials. As of January 2019, this preliminary injunction was still in place, and litigation continues.

Sarah Reasoner - 01/30/2019
Christiana Johnson - 04/16/2020


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