A federal court jury in ElDorado recently found against the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC) in a suit concerning the inmate mail policy at he Union County jail. The suit is similar to one filed against the Baxter County Detention Center in 2017 claiming the same constitutional violations.
After six years, the Baxter County case is still open. Both suits claimed the postcard-only policy violated HRDC’s rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
Federal Judge Timothy Brooks has yet to rule on issues brought up by the HRDC when the Baxter County case was being heard by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.
Jason Owens, who represented Baxter County in the HRDC suit, did make Judge Brooks’ court aware of the Union County jury’s decision by way of a notice of verdict filed March 8.
The Florida-based HRDC describes itself as a nonprofit charitable organization. It publishes an array of materials, including Prison Legal News. The publication is described as a “soft cover” magazine containing news about prisons, jails, prisoner rights and other information of interest to incarcerated individuals.
The publication is not allowed in the Baxter County Detention Center under a postcard-only policy put in place in 2012.
There is a difference between the current mail policies in Baxter and Union Counties, according to court filings.
While Union County also launched a postcard-only police in 2012, modifications were made in 2017. Those modifications included allowing letters that conform to other rules to be scanned and made available to inmates at computer kiosks in the jail. The Union County jail made computer tablets available in 2018.
The decision in Union County is likely to stand since appeals courts are generally hesitant to overturn jury verdicts.
In the Baxter County case, HRDC lost the first round in Federal District Court for the Western District of Arkansas and took the case to the 8th U.S. Court of Appeals in St. Louis. The appeals court upheld Judge Brooks’ due process ruling but vacated the First Amendment ruling and ordered the case back to the district court for further proceedings.
At issue basically is whether alternate means are available for inmates to access information that cannot be reduced to a postcard.
In the appeals court ruling, the judges noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear that alternative methods of communication with inmates do not have to be “ideal” but do “have to be available.”
In the written opinion issued by the appeals court, the judges wrote that the “postcard-only” mail policy as practiced at the Baxter County jail seems to create a de facto “total ban” on materials that cannot be reduced to a postcard.
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