LEWISBURG, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee’s Marshall County jail can no longer censor a Florida-based nonprofit’s publications solely because they contain staples.
U.S. District Judge William Campbell signed a permanent injunction on Tuesday that spells out how the jail will deal with publications from the Human Rights Defense Center in the future.
According to the injunction, Marshall County officials can remove staples from the publications if officials feel they pose a security threat.
If jailers decline to deliver the publications, or any portion of them, to the inmates for other reasons, they must inform the Human Rights Defense Center and give the nonprofit a chance to appeal.
The nonprofit sued the county over the censorship in federal court in Nashville in March 2019. In its complaint, it said the jail had censored at least 100 copies of Prison Legal News and Criminal Legal News in the previous year.
Marshall County has 20 days to file a notice that it is complying with the injunction, and the court will retain jurisdiction over the matter.
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