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California inmates will now be able to receive their subscriptions to Prison Legal News. |
According to an article by The Associated Press, the nonprofit newsletter claimed that the inmates' First Amendment rights were being violated by them not being allowed to receive the newsletter, which the inmates paid for themselves. Most of the money that the department is set to pay the publisher will result in five-year subscriptions for all of the libraries within the 33 adult prisons in the state.
Department officials said that the reason the newsletter had been kept out of the hands of inmates was partially due to the fact that there are extensive regulations placed on what inmates can and cannot receive through the mail. In addition to saying that the inmates were not receiving the newsletter, the publication also claimed that the inmates were not receiving books that they had ordered that were published by the publication. Again, the department said this was due to mail restrictions. However, after deliberation, the department has agreed to ease up on some of these restrictions.
"This is an important vindication of significant constitutional rights," Paul Wright, the newsletter's Editor and Publisher, said in a statement to The Associated Press.
In the past, Prison Legal News has won the right to distribute its publication to prisoners in Alabama, Michigan, Nevada, Oregon and Washington, as well. The newsletter, which includes news on various court decisions and legal advice, has a circulation of 5,000—1,000 of which come from the California prison system.
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