Prison Legal News, a favorite magazine for those who are incarcerated, as well as a source of legal information for those in the field of criminal justice reform, filed a lawsuit against Sheriff Freddie Poor when he banned books and magazines from the Galveston County Jail in 2010.
Sheriff Poor forbid inmates to possess books, newspapers, magazines or any type of reading material in the jail, except under “special circumstances.” The editor of PLN, a formerly incarcerated person who began the magazine in 1990 while serving time in the state of Washington, filed a federal lawsuit against Poor citing PLN was deprived of its “constitutional rights of free speech and expression, and its due process rights.” While the courts have held that books that are deemed to incite riots, cause harm to others, or are in other ways may be considered a threat to the safe and orderly running of a prison or jail can be banned , the majority of reading material prisoners request contain innocuous content.
Shortly after the suit was filed, Poor began negotiating a settlement with PLN, and an agreement was announced on March 1.The agreement withdraws the reading material ban, and Poor agreed to buy 17 books concerning educational, self-help, and legal matters for inmates, as well as two five-year subscriptions to PLN for the jail’s law library.
Sources: Houston Press and Houston Chronicle
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