Human Rights Defense Center
For Immediate Release – July 24, 2025
Publisher Files Censorship Suit Against Hawaii Department of Corrections
Honolulu, HI – On July 24, 2025 the non-profit organization Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC) filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii to challenge censorship by Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) officials. The complaint names DCR Director Tommy Johnson and Deputy Director of Correctional Institutions Pamela Sturz as defendants. “Prisoners have a well-established right to receive books and magazines via the mail from publishers and vendors. It is outrageous that we are having to fight to vindicate rights which were established decades ago,” said Paul Wright, HRDC’s executive director. HRDC has successfully litigated similar censorship cases arising from both private and governmentally operated prisons in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Nebraska and Illinois. The complaint is here. The motion for preliminary injunction is here.
HRDC publishes two monthly educational publications, Prison Legal News and Criminal Legal News, which were mailed to prisoners at DCR facilities along with legal books. According to the complaint, DCR maintains mail policies and practices that prohibit mailed books and magazines, and fail to provide HRDC notice and an opportunity to appeal the broad and unconstitutional censorship. “HRDC’s books and magazines inform prisoners about educational opportunities, their constitutional rights, and provide a means for self-improvement while incarcerated,” noted HRDC Litigation Director Jonathan Picard. “Banning these publications from reaching those who are in prison is an affront to the First Amendment, as well as counterproductive to the goals of security and rehabilitation.”
Between April 2024 and July 2025, HRDC mailed books, magazines, informational brochures, and correspondence to individuals confined in DCR facilities. During that time period, fifty-six (56) of those items were returned to HRDC by DCR officials marked “RETURN TO SENDER,” “UNAUTHORIZED MAIL,” and ‘CENSORED.” HRDC was not afforded an opportunity to appeal the censorship decisions, and many more items are believed to have been destroyed by DCR officials.
In the complaint, HRDC alleges the defendants have violated its rights under the free speech clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the right to due process guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. As a result of those violations, HRDC claims it has suffered damages including “the suppression of HRDC’s speech; the impediment of HRDC’s ability to disseminate its message; frustration of HRDC’s non-profit organizational mission; the loss of potential subscribers and customers; and, the inability to recruit new subscribers and supporters; the loss of reputation; and the cost of printing, handling, mailing, and staff time, among other damages.”
The lawsuit seeks injunctive relief, declaratory relief and damages against the defendants, as well as attorney fees and costs. HRDC is represented by attorneys Sanford Jay Rosen, Ernest Galvan, Benjamin Bien-Kahn, and Brena Muñoz of the San Francisco, CA law firm Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP, Jeffrey Portnoy of the Honolulu, HI law firm Cades Shutte, and by HRDC Litigation Director Jonathan Picard. The case is Human Rights Defense Center v. Tommy Johnson, et al., USDC HI Case No. 1:25-cv-00311 RT.
For further information, please contact:
Paul Wright, Executive Director
Human Rights Defense Center
(802) 275-8594
pwright@prisonlegalnews.org
Sanford Jay Rosen
Ernest Galvan
Benjamin Bien-Kahn
Brenda Muñoz
Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP
(415) 433-6830
srosen@rbgg.com
egalvan@rbgg.com
bbien-kahn@rbgg.com
bmunoz@rbgg.com
Jeffrey Portnoy
Cades Shutte
1000 Bishop Street, Suite 1200
Honolulu, HI 96813
(808) 521-9221
jportnoy@cades.com
The Human Rights Defense Center, founded in 1990 and based in Boynton Beach, Florida, is a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting human rights in U.S. detention facilities. HRDC publishes Prison Legal News (PLN) and Criminal Legal News (CLN), two monthly magazines that include reports, reviews and analysis of court rulings and news related to prisoners’ rights and criminal justice issues. PLN has thousands of subscribers nationwide and operates a website (www.prisonlegalnews.org) that includes a comprehensive database of prison and jail-related articles, news reports, court rulings, verdicts, settlements and related documents.
Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP, founded in San Francisco in 1990, focuses its practice on complex litigation and high-profile cases that move and shape public policy. RBGG partners have been consistently recognized as some of the top trial and appellate lawyers in California, and represent clients across the nation. Its trial, appellate, and U.S. Supreme Court practice emphasizes seven primary areas: complex commercial litigation; lawyer-to-lawyer assistance; trial and appellate practice; constitutional and civil rights; class actions in civil rights, employment, antitrust and consumer protection; workplace disputes; and alternative dispute resolution, both as providers of neutral services and as advocates. RBGG cases involve the most complex and sophisticated of issues, and each of us strives to be a client-centered lawyer, emphasizing personal service and responsiveness to a client’s overall business or personal interests.
Cades Schutte is Hawaii’s largest full-service law firm with 75 attorneys providing superior service in over 40 practice and industry areas from its main office in Honolulu and offices in Kona, Waimea, Kahului, and Līhuʻe. Since its founding in 1922, Cades Schutte attorneys have been called on to serve as counsel in some of the most notable cases and transactions in the State of Hawai‘i. It offers a wide range of corporate and personal legal services with an emphasis on business counseling and is proud to serve local, national, and international clients, and regularly handles estate planning, tax, and personal litigation matters. The Best Lawyers of America® 2025 lists 62 Cades Schutte attorneys in its Best Lawyers® and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch Lists in Hawai‘i. Many Cades Schutte attorneys have earned this distinction for over three decades.