By Sean Whaley
Review-Journal
CARSON CITY — A First Amendment battle is underway to get Nevada prison inmates access to publications that are now off-limits based on what the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada contends is an unconstitutional Corrections Department policy.
The lawsuit has been filed in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas on behalf of Prison Legal News, a publication aimed at protecting inmate legal rights and educating inmates on various issues.
But ACLU Legal Director Staci Pratt said the issue goes well beyond the one publication to encompass the constitutional rights of inmates and publishers to communicate with each other.
The questionable policies on access to materials can affect children of inmates who might want to send an incarcerated parent a report card or other communication, she said.
There are 2.7 million children nationally who have a parent in prison, Pratt said.
“The First Amendment does not end at the prison door. Censorship of legal materials through the establishment of arbitrary procedural roadblocks does not comport with the Nevada Department of Corrections’ constitutional obligations.”
Full story: ACLU battles Nevada prison system over censorship