By Robert Patrick
STL Today
CAPE GIRARDEAU — A former Ste. Genevieve County jail inmate’s lawsuit has been settled and inmates will once again be able to receive newspaper, the ACLU said Thursday.
Stanley A. Schell sued in January, claiming that officials stopped him from receiving his prepaid weekly newspaper because he wrote a letter to the editor of the Ste. Genevieve Herald Oct. 31. The letter was critical of local pastors for failing to visit inmates and provide spiritual guidance, asking repeatedly, “Where are you?”
His First Amendment suit said that he was told that, “The Sheriff has determined no local papers are allowed due to the fact that they publish local arrestees & their charges. This poses a security risk to inmates & our facility & are therefore no longer allowed.”
His subsequent appeals of the newspaper ban were rejected.
In the settlement of the suit, which was dismissed Thursday, the jail agreed to adopt new jail policies on “newspaper subscriptions and other written material mailed to detainees,” the ACLU said.
Full story: Missouri jail inmate who sued will get newspaper again