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Lawsuit: Postcard-only mail policy is unconstitutional

New federal lawsuit is challenging the mail policy for inmates at a county jail in South Florida.

By Lynn Walsh
The Denver Channel

ST. LUCIE COUNTY, Fla. — A new federal lawsuit is challenging the mail policy for inmates at a county jail in South Florida.

According to the lawsuit, the jail’s policy requiring all incoming and outgoing mail to fit on a postcard-size letter is unconstitutional. The lawsuit was filed against St. Lucie County Sheriff Kenneth J. Mascara in the Southern District of Florida earlier this month.

“It’s pretty limiting of the first amendment,” said Paul Wright, editor of Prison Legal News, the publication behind the lawsuit. “It serves to isolate prisoners from their family members and themselves. You don’t have email, and phone calls are ridiculously expensive, so all you can communicate with is a postcard.”

Full story: Federal lawsuit: St. Lucie County Jail’s postcard-only mail policy is unconstitutional