BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C.—According to federal court documents, the Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office will pay $35,000 to settle attorney fees involving a lawsuit over religious freedom and the First Amendment rights of inmates at the Hill Finklea Dentention Center.
Attorneys for Prison Legal News filed a motion in July 2014, requesting monetary compensation associated with their post-judgment work. One month after the request, Berkeley County council approved it.
In October 2010, Prison Legal News filed a class-action lawsuit against the sheriff’s office, claiming that it unlawfully censored and excluded its books and magazines from inmates at the jail. The publisher argued that this was in violation of inmates’ first and fourteenth amendment rights.
The U.S. Department of Justice and the American Civil Liberties Union eventually joined the lawsuit against the sheriff’s office.
Prison Legal News produces a monthly journal as well as books that are distributed across the nation to prisoners, attorneys, judges, law libraries and other subscribers. The publisher claimed in the lawsuit that the Berkeley Co. Sheriff’s Office failed to deliver multiple copies of journals and books to jail inmates as well as refused to deliver letters to prisoners sent from the publisher.
The lawsuit claimed that the detention center had a policy and practice of allowing detainees to order from a publisher, and receive by mail, a soft-cover Bible – but “no” to other books, magazines, or newspapers.
Attorneys for the publisher claimed in the lawsuit that punitive damages were warranted because each defendant’s conduct was “motivated by evil motive or intent, involved reckless or callous indifference to the federally protected rights of plaintiffs, intentionally violated federal law, or involved ill will.”
In 2012, both parties agreed to a settlement. The county agreed to pay $599,900 in full for punitive damages. After agreeing to pay the final amount for attorney fees, both parties can now put the case behind them.
“We are very thankful that the jail has gotten much needed funding to help it run more smoothly,” stated Sandy Senn, BCSO attorney. “We are also pleased that the Department of Justice and even the ACLU agree that the jail is headed in the right direction. The reality is, better funding equates to the ability to better manage incarcerated individuals.”
To read the original lawsuit in its entirety, click here.
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