FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - February 23, 2015
Kansas City, MO – United States District Judge Eric F. Melgren
signed an order today reversing the Wyandotte County Jail’s “postcard-only”
mail policy and ordering the Jail to again allow inmates to exchange letters
through the U.S. Mail – the result of a legal challenge to the policy brought
by the ACLU of Kansas and the Social Justice Law Collective (SJLC).
Judge Melgren’s
ruling approves an agreement between Jail inmates and the Wyandotte County Sheriff. According to the Court’s order, inmates in
the Wyandotte County Jail will now be able to send an unlimited number of
regular letters to friends and family members outside the Jail. The Sheriff, who retains the ability to restrict
the length of letters in certain circumstances, must also now provide free
writing materials to indigent inmates.
The Sheriff has also agreed to pay $25,000 in attorneys’ fees and costs
to the ACLU and SJLC for their efforts in securing the judgment.
“Today’s
reversal of the Wyandotte County Jail’s ‘postcard-only’ mail policy is a clear
sign that unnecessary restrictions on the free speech rights of incarcerated
individuals are illegal,” said Joshua Glickman, Founding Member Attorney of the
Social Justice Law Collective, “the Wyandotte County Jail now joins the vast
majority of Kansas jails which operate safe and secure facilities without the
need to drastically curtail the ability of inmates to correspond with family,
friends, and loved ones.”
The ACLU of
Kansas and SJLC filed the federal class action lawsuit in October 2013,
alleging that the Wyandotte County Jail’s “postcard-only” mail policy violated
the constitutional rights of inmates and their friends and families to
communicate with one another. Given the
typical distance between inmates and their families, as well as the prohibitive
cost of telephone calls and in-person visits, the ACLU and SJLC argued that the
Jail’s restrictive correspondence policies not only prevented inmates from
privately corresponding with loved ones, but also hindered inmates’ ability to
successfully re-integrate into their communities upon release.
“It’s a
significant victory for the ability of incarcerated individuals to exercise
their right to speak without undue government interference – a right these
individuals retain even in Jail,” said Doug Bonney, Legal Director for the ACLU
of Kansas, “in approving the parties’ agreement, the Court has made it clear
that jail and prison rules that stifle free speech will not be permitted.”
CONTACT:
Joshua Glickman, Founding Member Attorney, Social Justice Law Collective, (913) 213-3064 (direct), josh@sjlawcollective.com
Joshua Glickman, Founding Member Attorney, Social Justice Law Collective, (913) 213-3064 (direct), josh@sjlawcollective.com
Doug Bonney, Legal Director, ACLU of Kansas & Western Missouri, (816) 994-3311 (direct), dbonney@aclukswmo.org
