South Bend – On December 30, 2024, the non-profit organization Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington to challenge censorship by the Pacific County Jail (PCJ) in South Bend, Washington1. The lawsuit names the county, Sheriff Daniel Garcia, and PCJ Commander Mike Parker as defendants.

HRDC publishes two monthly educational publications, Prison Legal News and Criminal Legal News, which were mailed to prisoners at the jail along with legal books and correspondence2. According to the complaint, PCJ maintains mail policies, practices, or customs that unconstitutionally restrict correspondence sent to prisoners, that prohibit books and magazines and legal materials, and fail to afford due process notice and an opportunity to challenge censorship decisions required by the United States Constitution.

Since March 2024, HRDC has sent dozens and dozens of publications and other mail to individuals confined in PCJ that jail officials censored3. Many were returned to HRDC marked “Return to Sender” without further explanation, and HRDC was not afforded an opportunity to appeal the jail’s censorship decisions. When HRDC asked if PCJ allows detainees to receive publications directly from publishers, PCJ Commander Mike Parker responded that “we will allow books to be added to our library if they are addressed to the Jail and not to specific inmates” and that “we do not have magazines up there only because swapping them out frequently isn’t convenient for my staff”.

In the lawsuit, HRDC alleges violations of the First Amendment free speech clause, and the Fourteenth Amendment’s right to due process4. These violations have infringed upon HRDC’s constitutional rights to distribute its publications, communicate its political message to prisoners, to recruit new supporters, readers and subscribers, and have caused Plaintiff additional financial harm in the form of lost subscriptions, and lost publication and book purchases.

“HRDC’s books and magazines inform prisoners about educational opportunities, their constitutional rights, and provide a means for self-improvement while incarcerated,” noted HRDC Litigation Director Jonathan Picard. “Banning these publications from reaching those who are in jail is an affront to the First Amendment, as well as counterproductive to the goals of security and rehabilitation”.

“Prisoners have a well-established right to receive books and magazines via the mail from publishers and vendors. It is outrageous that we are having to fight to vindicate rights which were established decades ago,” said Paul Wright, HRDC’s executive director and the editor of Prison Legal News.

The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief, declaratory relief, and damages against the defendants, as well as attorney fees and costs. HRDC is represented by attorneys Jesse Wing, Katherine Chamberlain, and Nathaniel Flack of the Seattle, WA law firm MacDonald Hoague & Bayless5, and by HRDC Litigation Director Jonathan Picard. The case is Human Rights Defense Center v. Pacific County et al., USDC WDWA at Tacoma, Case No. 3:24-cv-06068.