More news coverage of PLN's censorship suit against VA DOC
Richmond Times-Dispatch, Jan. 1, 2009.
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/rtd/news/state_re...
More news coverage of PLN's censorship suit against VA DOC - Richmond Times-Dispatch 2009
Federal suit alleges illegal censorship at Va. prisons
By Staff Reports / Richmond Times Dispatch
Published: October 10, 2009
The Prison Legal News has filed a federal suit alleging its rights are being violated by state authorities who censor magazines and books sent to Virginia inmates.
The suit, filed yesterday in Charlottesville against Virginia Department of Corrections officials, claims the publication's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated when authorities censored "numerous issues . . . on the flimsiest grounds."
The monthly publication covers criminal-justice issues and has 7,000 subscribers, including lawyers and inmates, across the country.
A spokesman for the Virginia attorney general's office declined to comment because the litigation is pending.
"Although prisoners lose many of their constitutional rights when they are incarcerated, the First Amendment does not end at the prison door," Jeffrey Fogel, a lawyer for Legal News, said in a prepared statement.
Among other things, the Legal News is seeking an end to the alleged misconduct, along with unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
-- Frank Green
Federal suit alleges illegal censorship at Va. prisons
By Staff Reports / Richmond Times Dispatch
Published: October 10, 2009
The Prison Legal News has filed a federal suit alleging its rights are being violated by state authorities who censor magazines and books sent to Virginia inmates.
The suit, filed yesterday in Charlottesville against Virginia Department of Corrections officials, claims the publication's First and Fourteenth Amendment rights were violated when authorities censored "numerous issues . . . on the flimsiest grounds."
The monthly publication covers criminal-justice issues and has 7,000 subscribers, including lawyers and inmates, across the country.
A spokesman for the Virginia attorney general's office declined to comment because the litigation is pending.
"Although prisoners lose many of their constitutional rights when they are incarcerated, the First Amendment does not end at the prison door," Jeffrey Fogel, a lawyer for Legal News, said in a prepared statement.
Among other things, the Legal News is seeking an end to the alleged misconduct, along with unspecified compensatory and punitive damages.
-- Frank Green