Public defenders and other attorneys who work with inmates talk about PLN with admiration. Since then, it’s grown into a 72-page authoritative and unmatchable resource for inmates seeking legal advice for their complaints, ranging from medical neglect, beatings and excessive use of force, to abuse of solitary confinement and sexual assault behind bars. If enough subscriptions and donations came in, they thought, they could afford to keep publishing. Together, they had $300, which was enough to pay for six issues. Paul Wright started the magazine from inside a maximum security prison in Washington state with another inmate, Ed Mead. Wright started the magazine from inside a maximum security prison in Washington state with another inmate and just $300. “ we publish a cover story in Prison Legal News, within 30 days it’s been read by a quarter of a million people,” Wright told The Crime Report. The total readership is much larger, since it’s usually passed from hand to hand according to the Center’s estimate, each individual issue gets passed around to at least ten different readers.
“That said, in the states of the former confederacy, which I think is no surprise, the judges are a lot more hostile to civil rights plaintiffs than they are elsewhere.”Įach month, the Center sends out some 22,500 issues of PLN and Criminal Legal News, (a new criminal law and procedure magazine) to prison libraries and individual subscribers across the country, over 70 percent of whom are incarcerated. “We have successfully sued over 50 jails over publication bans and sadly, our work is not yet done.” “I’d say that we consistently win our litigation,” Wright told The Crime Report. To do that, he’s had to file lawsuits against prisons and jails in 40 states over their censorship practices. Courtesy HRDCĪt the center of these battles is Paul Wright, founder and director of the Human Rights Defense Center (HDRC), who has devoted the past 28 years to getting legal news and resources to inmates. Paul Wright (left) and the PLN legal team going to court in Florida, 2015. In practice, the burden of accommodating prisoners’ rights to access legal and other reading material across the United States-as well as the First Amendment rights of a publisher to access its audience-has largely fallen on the shoulders of one man. While Florida is currently the only state to ban the monthly publication, the decision highlights similar disputes over prison censorship now in play across the country. The decision contained many pages of anecdotes about fraud schemes perpetrated by inmates, but did not cite testimony or evidence suggesting that viewing advertisements incites criminal activity.
“Inmates have the time, talent, and tendency to use their phone, pen pal, and correspondence privileges to conduct criminal activity, thwarting efforts to protect inmates and the public.”Īt one point, Carnes even argued that cash-for-stamps schemes facilitate “the corruption of prison guards.” “From time to time we have all followed the advice of Oscar Wilde and gotten rid of temptation by yielding to it,” wrote Carnes. Prefacing his 48-page opinion by invoking the 19 th century writer Oscar Wilde, Judge Ed Carnes speculated that the ads may provide “temptation” for inmates to commit fraud and other criminal acts. Those services include three-way calling, pen pal services, and selling postage stamps for cash.
Last month, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, which covers Alabama, Georgia and Florida, upheld the state’s decision to ban Prison Legal News (PLN), on the grounds that it carries ads for services that are prohibited in Florida correctional facilities. A resource that civil rights attorneys say is critical for prisoners across the country who are fighting abuse and neglect behind bars has just become off-limits to Florida inmates.
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