5/19/14 - The Livingston County Jail must deliver mail to inmates from the American Civil Liberties Union according to an order from a federal judge. The ACLU filed a civil complaint in U.S. District Court in late March challenging the constitutionality of the Livingston County Jailâs policy of restricting most incoming and outgoing mail to postcards. U.S. District Court Judge Denise Hood on Thursday granted an injunction filed by the ACLU, ordering that the mail sent by the ACLU to the inmates noted in the complaint must be delivered. It follows a temporary injunction she granted last month. The lawsuit names Livingston County, Sheriff Bob Bezotte and Jail Administrator Tom Cremonte. Legal mail is considered exempt from the policy but the ACLU claimed the defendants were not delivering mail sent by their attorneys to specifically named inmates, and in at least one case opened and read a letter addressed to a former inmate, which was then sent to attorneys representing the former inmate in a case involving Prison Legal News. That publication filed a separate lawsuit against the county and Bezotte in 2011, also claiming 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. Livingston Countyâs attorney filed an emergency motion on Friday to stay the injunction in the ACLU case pending an appeal, although a court date has yet to be set. (JK)
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