Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld has represented the Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC) in a series of successful censorship suits brought against jails and prisons in California and across the U.S. HRDC publishes two monthly educational publications, Prison Legal News and Criminal Legal News. According to HRDC’s executive director Paul Wright, “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.” HRDC has successfully litigated censorship cases arising from jails operated by Los Angeles, Madera, Mariposa, Napa, Placer, Tehama, Sacramento, San Diego, Tulare, and Ventura counties, and by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
On January 10, 2025 HRDC filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to challenge censorship by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Main Adult Detention Facility (MADF) in Santa Rosa, California. On March 19, 2025 defendants and plaintiffs stipulated to a preliminary injunction that will ensure that HRDC’s publications are delivered to those incarcerated in the Sonoma County jail. The parties also agreed to mediate the dispute The complaint is here. The court’s preliminary injunction order is here.
In another recent case, RBGG filed a complaint and motion for preliminary injunction for HRDC in federal court in New Mexico on October 25, 2024 against the New Mexico Corrections Department. According to the complaint: “Defendants have adopted and implemented mail policies, practices, and customs that unconstitutionally prohibit delivery of publications and correspondence mailed by Plaintiff to persons incarcerated at the Department, and that deny due process of law to senders, like Plaintiff, whose mail is censored, by failing to provide adequate notice and an opportunity to challenge each instance of censorship. Defendants’ actions violate its rights under the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.” The complaint is here. The motion for preliminary injunction is here.
Human Rights Defense Center
Press Release – HRDC Files Suit Against Sonoma County Jail
Santa Rosa, CA – On January 10, 2025 the non-profit organization Human Rights Defense Center (HRDC)[i] filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California to challenge censorship by the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Main Adult Detention Facility (MADF) in Santa Rosa, California. The complaint names Sheriff Eddie Engram, Detention Division Operations Captain Melissa Parmenter, and the county 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 jails operated by Los Angeles, Madera, Mariposa, Napa, Placer, Tehama, Sacramento, San Diego, Tulare, and Ventura counties, and by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
HRDC publishes two monthly educational publications, Prison Legal News and Criminal Legal News, which were mailed to prisoners at the jail along with legal books. According to the complaint, MADF 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 jail is an affront to the First Amendment, as well as counterproductive to the goals of security and rehabilitation.”
Since October 2023, HRDC has mailed books, magazines, court rulings, informational brochures, and correspondence to individuals confined at MADF. The complaint alleges during that time period, forty-seven (47) of those items were returned to HRDC by MADF officials marked in various ways, including the abbreviations “RTS,” “MTC,” “NIC,” and “ANK” handwritten in ink, and/or with an ink stamp containing the words “RETURN TO SENDER NO INMATE SOLICITATIONS.” HRDC was not afforded an opportunity to appeal the jail’s censorship decisions.
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 Article I, Section 2 of the California Constitution and the right to due process guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Article I, Section 7 of the California Constitution. As a result of those violations, HRDC claims that 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, and Marc J. Shinn-Krantz of the San Francisco, CA law firm Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP,[ii] and by HRDC Litigation Director Jonathan Picard. The case is Human Rights Defense Center v. County of Sonoma, et al., USDC NDCA San Francisco Division Case No. 3:25-cv-00361-PHK.
For further information, please contact:
Paul Wright, Executive Director
Human Rights Defense Center
(802) 275-8594
pwright@prisonlegalnews.org
Sanford Jay Rosen
Ernest Galvan
Marc J. Shinn-Krantz
Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP
(415) 433-6830
srosen@rbgg.com
egalvan@rbgg.com
mshinn-krantz@rbgg.com
[i] 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.
[ii] 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.