An RBGG team led by Sanford Jay Rosen, Ben Bien-Kahn, and Marc Shinn-Krantz successfully resolved an important First and Fourteenth Amendment censorship lawsuit for non-profit publisher Human Rights Defense Center (“HRDC”) against Sonoma County’s Jail. The resolution of this case will protect HRDC and other publishers from having their publications and correspondence censored in the future.
HRDC publishes two monthly educational publications, Prison Legal News and Criminal Legal News, and also publishes and distributes legal and educational self-help reference books for incarcerated people. RBGG has successfully litigated censorship cases for HRDC from jails operated by a number of California counties, including Los Angeles, Madera, Mariposa, Napa, Placer, Tehama, Sacramento, San Diego, Tulare, and Ventura Counties, and against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
On January 10, 2025, HRDC filed this lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to challenge the censorship of its publications by Sonoma County’s Main Adult Detention Facility in Santa Rosa, California. The case was fully resolved by the end of June 2025.
The parties agreed to a court-enforceable consent decree that prohibits Sonoma County from censoring publications and correspondence sent by publishers to people incarcerated at the Jail, and ensures that publishers whose mailings are rejected are provided notice of the reason and an opportunity to appeal the decision. The consent decree is here.
Sonoma County also paid $350,000 to HRDC for its damages, attorneys’ fees and costs.
On July 7, 2025, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat published an article on the settlement, Lawsuit results in new rules for mail at the Sonoma County jail