4/16/14 - Saying that correspondence from an attorney is the very essence of âlegal mailâ, a federal judge has ordered that mail be delivered to inmates at the Livingston County Jail. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a civil complaint in U.S. District Court in late March challenging the constitutionality of the Livingston County Jailâs "postcard onlyâ mail policy, which restricts all incoming and outgoing mail to postcards, although inmates are allowed to have books and magazines if they request and pay for them. The suit names Livingston County, Sheriff Bob Bezotte and Jail Administrator Tom Cremonte. Legal mail is considered exempt from the policy but the ACLU claims the defendants are not delivering mail sent by their attorneys to specifically named inmates, and furthermore published at least one letter to the public intended for a specific inmate. Federal Judge Denise Hood recently granted a motion filed by the ACLU, ordering that the mail sent by the ACLU to the inmates noted in the complaint must be delivered and the document is attached below. Another hearing is scheduled May 12th and the latest complaint is also now a companion case to a separate lawsuit filed against the county and Bezotte in 2011 by Prison Legal News. It also claims that itâs free-speech rights were being violated because authorities wouldn't distribute the publication and other correspondence to inmates. County authorities previously said that in many cases the publication was being sent to inmates without first being requested. Additional hearings in that case have also been scheduled before Judge Hood later this month and in May. (JM)
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