A publisher that distributes books on the legal rights of prisoners sued the chief of the state's prison system Wednesday, claiming he is banning its publications in Massachusetts prisons.
Prison Legal News, a nonprofit publisher, alleges that Department of Correction Commissioner Harold Clarke and other prison officials refuse to add it to a list of approved vendors who can send books to prisoners.
The lawsuit filed in federal court Wednesday seeks unspecified damages and an order prohibiting the Department of Correction from maintaining its approved vendor policy. The lawsuit claims the policy is unconstitutional.
Prison Legal News, an independent, mail-order publisher based in Seattle, publishes a monthly journal of court decisions and other news affecting the rights of prisoners. It also distributes books on inmates' legal rights, including "No Equal Justice: Race and Class in the American Criminal Justice System" and "Represent Yourself in Court: How to Prepare and Try a Winning Case."
The corporation distributed books in Massachusetts prisons until 2003, when a policy was adopted that allowed only approved vendors to send books to prisoners, said Paul Wright, the editor of Prison Legal News. Wright said he has written letters to Clarke and other prison officials asking to be put on the approved list.
"We haven't gotten anywhere with them," Wright said. "I think some of it is the hostility - that they don't want prisoners to know what their legal rights are."
Leave a comment