Virginia Prison Sued For Banning Book About How To Sue Prisons

(AP) -- Two civil rights organizations are suing Virginia prison officials because they banned inmates from receiving a book teaching them how to file lawsuits against prisons.

National Lawyers Guild and the Center for Constitutional Rights sued state Department of Corrections Director Gene Johnson, officials at Coffeewood Correctional Center and members of the department's Publication Review Committee on Wednesday in federal court in Charlottesville.

The groups claim the officials violated their First Amendment and due process rights when they restricted inmates' access to their book "Jailhouse Lawyer's Handbook." The book is a how-to guide to filing lawsuits concerning mistreatment or poor prison conditions.

Prison officials would not comment on the lawsuit.

Comments

[LMPE]

07:37 PM on 07/25/2010

Next up from the Department of That Really Didn't Work:

How to get a flesh wound by covering yourself with cotton

[Aroddo]

04:37 PM on 07/22/2010

Chapter 1 - How to goad prisons into banning books ...